Situação geográfica e agricultura urbana e periurbana na Região Metropolitana de Natal/RN

Abstract

The rational practice of Urban Agriculture (AU) can provide a certain balance to the urban ecosystem, in addition to offering occupation and income, especially for part of the population with greater social vulnerability. Despite being such an important topic, its presence among Geography studies is not common, due to the majority of academic productions considering that modern urban-industrial development eliminates all traditional practices of the rural world, in the face of urban expansion. However, it is clear that the analyzes cannot disregard the typical manifestations of the rural world in the intra-urban space, such as the practices of urban agriculture. The empirical focus of the research corresponds to the Metropolitan Region of Natal, using it as a fact and a tool, which allows the understanding and analysis of integrated planning, as well as the spatiality of the phenomenon in its entirety, from its own methodology, allowing identify areas where urban agriculture is practiced. It seeks to analyze the phenomenon in its territorial dimension, since the territory presents itself as a fundamental analytical concept for approaching reality. As the territory is equivalent to the portion of the geographic space that coincides with the spatial extension of the jurisdiction of a government, the regulations of urban areas in the municipalities do not consider the heterogeneity of the territory, used by several agents of the urban space, including uses of agricultural nature, thus, there is a transformation from agricultural to urban land use. In view of this, we seek to understand the contents of the forms highlighted as urban and peri-urban, due to the contradiction existing in the uses of these spaces parallel to the norms that define them. Thus, it reflects on what influences the norms of the territory exert on the practice of urban agriculture, trying to understand it in its totality, as well as the role of the producing agents of the urban space in the face of this activity. It is understood that agricultural practices in cities are linked to temporary crops and permanent crops of various species of vegetables, also including animal husbandry, but, above all, the production of vegetables in the NMR stands out. In view of this scenario, conflicts arise about the urban perimeters that are inserted in the agricultural production areas, involving the delimitations of the master plans that do not consider the uses for urban agriculture in the territory, influencing the dynamics of the territorial configuration and on the agriculture that has been developed. in these areas. In this way, it investigates how urban agriculture integrates the ecosystem of cities, using various services of the urban network while providing its productions for food supply. Furthermore, it is emphasized that the social organization of urban farmers needs strengthening and greater recognition by segments of society and the State so that plans and programs are proposed to strengthen Urban Agriculture. Therefore, the geographic discussion around this theme is fundamental to understand the specificities analyzed from this situation, revealing the importance of Geography to analyze Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in the RMN.