SUSTAINABILITY OF FAMILY FARMING SYSTEMS IN A QUILOMBOLA SETTLEMENT AREA IN ÓBIDOS, PARÁ, BRAZIL
Settlement. Traditional Peoples and Communities. Quilombola Family Farming. Sustainability. MESMIS method.
The Quilombola Settlement Project (PAQ) Área das Cabeceiras, located in the municipality of Óbidos-PA, is a type of settlement that belongs to the category of Environmentally Differentiated Settlement Project (PAD), and which covers a group of rural communities that are remnants of quilombos whose main source of subsistence and income is family farming. As this is an environmentally differentiated settlement area, based on the principles of sustainable development, this thesis project aims to assess the levels of sustainability of family farming systems in rural quilombola communities in the municipality of Óbidos (PA) in terms of the social, economic and environmental dimensions. The project is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the historical and political process of occupation and formation of quilombola communities, culminating in the creation of the "Área das Cabeceiras Special Quilombola Settlement Project" and its respective titling. Chapter 2 describes the socio-economic profile of family farmers from the quilombola communities belonging to the Área das Cabeceiras quilombola settlement project. Chapter 3 aims to assess the sustainability of quilombola family farming systems, highlighting their limitations and potential. The research is an exploratory and descriptive case study with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The procedure adopted to carry out the research is based on the MESMIS method. The data was obtained from a bibliographic survey of secondary sources and field research using semi-structured interviews and direct observation. The results of the first stage of the sustainability assessment are presented, according to the assessment cycle proposed by the MESMIS method.