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Library “Brasilience:” Assessing Resilience in Land Reform Settlements in the Brazilian Cerrado

“Brasilience:” Assessing Resilience in Land Reform Settlements in the Brazilian Cerrado

“Brasilience:” Assessing Resilience in Land Reform Settlements in the Brazilian Cerrado

Resource information

Date of publication
December 2015
Resource Language
ISBN / Resource ID
AGRIS:US201600017165
Pages
531-546

This study assessed the socioecological resilience of family farms in three land reform settlements in Mato Grosso, Brazil, located in the ecologically threatened Cerrado biome. Using focus groups, a household survey, and analysis of soil samples we characterized farming systems and quantified indicators of resilience, which we contextualized with a qualitative analysis of distributions of power and access to rights and resources. In Mato Grosso, where diversified agriculture is a marginal presence in an industrialized agricultural landscape, none of the communities were achieving participant-defined threshold levels of any measured indicator of resilience. However, farmers who were members of a marketing cooperative selling produce through a federal public procurement program had significantly greater agrobiodiversity, plant-available soil phosphorus, household food self-sufficiency, and access to stable markets. Our pilot study suggests that the convergence of grassroots mobilization and political-institutional change is a central leverage point for developing more resilient food systems.

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Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s)

Blesh, Jennifer
Wittman, Hannah

Publisher(s)
Data Provider
Geographical focus