Autonomy and sustainability: An integrated analysis of the development of new approaches to agrosystem management in family-based farming in Carnaubais Territory, Piau¨ª, Brazil
摘要
This paper seeks to analyze an endogenous development scheme implemented by farming families, involving innovations in the organic production of watermelons; this was a novel local initiative reflecting the creative drive of the farmers themselves, against a background marked by considerable political and institutional uncertainty. The scheme was evaluated in terms of a set of systemic properties measured by multidimensional indicators for farming systems. Data on the selected indicators were collected by field observations, monitoring of production units, and direct semi-structured interviews with farmers. In general terms, the innovations prompted improvements in the various components of extensive environmental and social sustainability, enabling a more sustainable land use through chemical, physical and biological improvements to the soil in the farming systems studied, ensuring increased incomes and the maintenance of family employment, strengthening the farmers¡¯ resources and improving their control over resources, and reducing the degree of dependency in relations between the farming unit and the broader context.