During the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers worldwide were greatly affected by disruptions in the food chain. In 2020, São Paulo city experienced most of the effects of the pandemic in Brazil, with 15,587 deaths through December 2020. Here, we describe the impacts of COVID-19 on urban agriculture (UA) in São Paulo from April to August 2020. We analyzed two governmental surveys of 2100 farmers from São Paulo state and 148 from São Paulo city and two qualitative surveys of volunteers from ten community gardens and seven urban farmers. Our data showed that 50% of the farmers were impacted by the pandemic with drops in sales, especially those that depended on intermediaries. Some farmers in the city adapted to novel sales channels, but 22% claimed that obtaining inputs became difficult. No municipal support was provided to UA in São Paulo, and pre-existing issues were exacerbated. Work on community gardens decreased, but no garden permanently closed. Post COVID-19, UA will have the challenge of maintaining local food chains established during the pandemic. Due to the increase in the price of inputs and the lack of technical assistance, governmental efforts should be implemented to support UA.
Resumo Este artigo apresenta a agricultura urbana como ativismo na cidade de São Paulo a partir da consolidação da rede “Hortelões Urbanos”, em 2011, que impulsionou, consequentemente, a materialização da primeira horta comunitária em 2012: a Horta das Corujas. Para a realização deste estudo de caso, seguiu-se a metodologia da pesquisa-ação e atentou-se ao processo histórico que conduziu à materialização da referida horta, compreendendo-se as transformações socioespaciais tanto da praça pública quanto dos bairros onde ela se localiza. Esse modelo de ativismo local tem impulsionado mudanças legislativas e culturais em toda a cidade, e a sua análise conduz a novas reflexões sobre o espaço urbano e atualiza o debate acerca do direito à cidade.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.