Perception of sustainable agriculture in Maringá municipality, Paraná state, Brazil

Abstract

With the population increase, the search for solutions to produce food in quantity, ensuring quality and care for the environment is necessary. In this context, agroecological production, including organic farming, emerges as an alternative for sustainable food production systems. However, many producers and consumers are unaware of these forms of cultivation and their benefits related to health and the environment. In this way, the objective of this research was to evaluate the degree of knowledge of individuals participating in two agrarian events, on the concepts of production and conventional products, agroecological and organic, to reveal the perceptions about these subjects. This exploratory and transversal study was based on the application of an elaborated and validated questionnaire. The results showed that most of those surveyed are young or young adults, social classes B and C, living in the urban area. There were differences in gender and schooling among groups, and, in the producer's fair, the majority were female and with a lower level of schooling. Despite the satisfactory average results, gaps in the knowledge or misguided perceptions about the subject were emphasized. To complement and adjust the knowledge community on these subjects, it is considered imperative that actions that foster environmental education, ecological education, and agroecological literacy should be encouraged to designed to reveal the particular characteristics of an organic product, its cultivation methods including the environmental benefits and their restrictions, and, mainly, to propagate the health benefits of consuming these foods.