The experience of community urban gardens: Social organization and food security

Abstract

Objective To characterize Salvador-Bahia community gardens, with regard to social organization, work, supply and access to food, in line with the concept of Food Security. Methods A cross-sectional, exploratory study was carried out involving information collection, identification and selection of community gardens. Seven community gardens were located, although only five participated, with data collected through the application of semi-structured questionnaires, used with 13 horticulturists. Results Most of the gardens (80.0%) were located in popular neighborhoods and had been in place for less than five years; they operated with no land legalization (80.0%), in assigned areas (80.0%) and without any technical support (100.0%). No social organization was available in most of the initiatives (60.0%). The greatest difficulties included: lack of funding (80.0%) and volunteers for work (80.0%), as well as water use restrictions (80.0%). The crops included different fruits and vegetables, for self-consumption (80.0%), donation (60.0%), and/or commercialization (40.0%). Horticulturists included women (50.0%) and men (50.0%), mean age 44.8 years, education between illiterates (25.0%) and upper level (37.5%), rural migrants (50.0%) and experienced farmers (62.5%). Positive aspects included the production and access to natural food and the pleasure of working with earth. Conclusion Insufficient policies limited technical support and financing were observed in this segment, although there were contributions to the generation of work opportunities, supply and access to food. The study showed a strong link between community gardens and strategies to promote Food and Nutrition Security.

Urban gardening and neglected and underutilized species in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

“…It is clear, therefore, that, in the event of the extinction of these gardens (which has already happened with others mentioned in this study), these families may fall into a situation of food insecurity. A recent study by Souza et al [ 37 ], with urban gardens in Salvador, Brazil, serves as an alert to this problem. The research shows little technical and financial support for urban agriculture and signals the need to formulate policies for the segment, in order to promote better organization, strengthening, and continuity of the activity.…”

Community gardens as feminist spaces: A more‐than‐gendered approach to their transformative potential

“…Clover, 2002; Walter, 2013), as their practices resonate with the idea of conscientisation (Freire, 1970). The experiential learning in community gardens shows that they can enable communities to identify and address their socio‐economic issues, as well as rethink and envision alternatives (Barron, 2017; Haedicke, 2018; Hite et al., 2017; Mmako et al., 2018; Souza et al., 2019; Yap, 2019). A participant of M. White's (2011, p. 23) study affirmed that ‘growing your own garden is the most popular form of popular education, learning by doing, placed‐based, spiritual, all those things in one and in its resistance’.…”

O Agir Crítico em Nutrição na Atenção Primária à Saúde e suas Potencialidades à Luz da Concepção da Educação Popular

“…No ano de 2016 registraram-se em seu portal eletrônico 9.365 usuários com 226 experiências intersetoriais cadastradas, 39 boletins e informativos publicados, três cursos a distância e 8 revistas publicadas (REVISTA IDEIAS NA MESA, 2016). Souza et al (2019), analisando uma experiência no contexto de hortas urbanas comunitárias, destacam a contribuição desse fazer pedagógico para o aprimoramento dos vínculos da vida comunitária e na continuidade de iniciativas para a participação ativa nos movimentos sociais, proporcionando um caráter socializador e dinâmico de tais espaços urbanos produtivos.…”