Agroecology is a science with an interdisciplinary approach that has been built over
generations, integrating traditional and scientific knowledge, promoting sustainable
agricultural practices and building social movements, increasingly political,
emancipatory and territorial. Studying this construction is seeking to understand the man
in the field and how he contributes to agroecological development. The objective of this
work is to understand agroecological family production as a driving force of rural
development and how this producer is a key player in the formation and consolidation of
a formal institutional environment in the state of Amapá. To achieve this objective, the
research explored the forces that led to the institutional structuring of agroecology in the
region; analyzed the historical structures of this family farmer, their agrarian trajectories
and how they infuse their economic activity, directly influencing the preservation of
biodiversity and local knowledge in the region when promoting food sovereignty; sought
to identify the rationality and nature of the economic motivation of the family farmer in
the state of Amapá and how he promotes agroecological rural development based on
participatory strategies. Finally, it also sought to identify the agroecological practices
used by family farmers in the state of Amapá to analyze the perspective of organic
certification in their small agricultural productions focused on horticulture. The
methodological approach used in the work was historical-structural and case study, where
the research sought, from document analyzes and interviews carried out with the
community leadership of agroecological family farmers and agents linked to institutional
technical assistance bodies, about family profile and process of productive. As a result,
the research concludes that, at first, the institutionalization of agroecology in the state was
driven by local welfare agencies, but that the small production of family gardeners is
increasingly present in this construction, boosting institutional agroecological
development. The research also showed that the family farmer in the state is a
multifaceted and diverse man, and his formation occurs according to spatial and territorial
elements, so the family farmer from Amapá can be caboclo, riverside, quilombola,
descendant of slaves, descendant of northeasterners , or former rubber tappers among
others, making it impossible to reduce it to a single term or category. Also, the agrarian
technologies promoted in its agricultural establishments are focused on agroecology,
promoting biodiversity and food sovereignty in the state and proposing solidary
economies with the formation of short circuits for the commercialization of its products.
The research also identified two rationalities with different natures of motivation in the
region: the capitalist family farmer, driven by capital accumulation given the growing
formation of new social and economic needs; and the organic family farmer, a plural,
diverse and territorial man, with a character of resistance, where his main motivating
agent is the family. The research also showed that one is not an impediment to the
existence (or not) of the other, nor is one an evolution of the other, they coexist in the
same space, holding different social rationales and both promote rural development based
on participatory strategies, such as formation of associations in order to promote
collective practices. Finally, a prognosis was raised for a possible organic concession,
issued by MAPA, in horticulture promoted by family farmers in the state and it was identified that 85% of family farmers in Amapá do not use pesticides in their production,
59.8% of family farmers promote some type of agroecological practice, such as crop
rotation and/or fallow land, promoting socio-biodiversity, based on their traditional
knowledge that is passed on to the next generation. The research also identified
bottlenecks for the concession, which are predominantly bureaucratic, such as
documentation, lack of a community bank of creole seeds, potability control and water
use, compliance with sanitary standards for cleaning its products as recommended by law
and strengthening of short marketing channels. Even so, the research concludes that the
organic concession for family farmers, horticulturists in the state, is entirely feasible.
Finally, the research shows that the family farmer in the state of Amapá is a key element
in the structuring of agroecological production in the state and in the consolidation of a
formal institutional environment, given their histories, motivations, resistance and
struggles.
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