Intervenção educativa: Impactos sobre as práticas agrícolas de uma comunidade de horticultores no extremo oeste da Amazônia

Abstract

Pesticides have broad effects and represent a severe socioeconomic, environmental, and public health problem. In this context, agroecology is an alternative for food production with low environmental impact. Education may help bridge the transition to a more sustainable agricultural system. In the present study we surveyed the profile of a community of horticulturists in the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul, state of Acre, northern Brazil, focused on the management of pesticides. Our study also assessed the impact of an educational intervention on the community’s knowledge of safe handling of pesticides and use of agroecological techniques for olericulture, by analyzing the opinion of horticulturists about the viability of agroecology in the region. It was an action research, in a qualitativequantitative descriptive study with semi-structured questionnaires applied to a sample of 20 horticulturists. The results showed a sample composed of workers aged predominantly from 30 to 40 years, who mostly have been working with vegetables for 7 to 15 years. Among the interviewees, 95% used pesticides in their plantations. Only 5% used complete personal protective equipment (PPE), 60% used incomplete PPE, and 30% used no PPE. We observed the use of veterinarian products in the crops. This practice can bring risks, since although they contain insecticide components, veterinarian products are not assessed by all the responsible agencies and do not have in the package instructions on care and application rate. Our educational intervention provided advancement in the knowledge of safety procedures, which can help reduce the susceptibility to intoxications. The advantages attributed to agroecological techniques were related to health and ease of preparation. Among the horticulturists that tested biofertilizers, 80% observed the removal of pests, and 30% reported better grow of crops. In the end of the study, horticulturists assumed two positions about the application of an agroecological system in the municipality: 55% showed a preference for the exclusive use of agroecological practices and 45% expressed a need to ally the use of pesticides and agroecological techniques and put in question the possibility of production without pesticides. For the horticulturists, the greatest challenges involving the use of the agroecological system were the search for consumers, the fair value of the product, and production at a large scale. Participatory research that contributes to the propagation of examples and assessment of the implementation of agroecological alternatives at a regional level are essential to overcome obstacles toward a more sustainable agriculture, which will improve health, safety, and life quality.