Urban agriculture in the city of Curitiba: a heterogeneous and unequal phenomenon

Abstract

The urban agriculture policy in the city of Curitiba, Brazil stands out as a successful case in Brazil, but there are other movements in the city about the theme from civil society. The goal of this paper was to identify and characterize different categories of urban agriculture practitioners in Curitiba. To this end, a descriptive research was carried out through bibliographic and documentary analysis. First of all, information about the main aspects of the municipal community gardens program and the profile of its beneficiaries was collected. It was observed that the activities are concentrated in the outskirts of the city and the majority of participants has a monthly family income of up to two minimum wages. Two other significant categories of practitioners were also mapped out: the first one configures an epistemic community, whose agenda about the use of urban space for urban agriculture practices gave rise to the municipal law of urban agriculture of Curitiba. There are also those who have agriculture as their means of social reproduction, but who tend to disappear due to urban expansion into previously rural areas. Thus, despite the wide range of actors who develop these practices across the territory, their visibility and insertion on the political agenda occur asymmetrically.