Study outlines profile of urban farmers .

Interviews with horticulturists inform environmental engineer’s research

Well-being, leisure, occupational activity and mental health. These are the main motivations for urban farmers in Campinas to cultivate their vegetable gardens, according to a master's study conducted in the area of ​​public health at the School of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Unicamp. The research, conducted by environmental engineer Marília Escanhoela, sought to outline the socioeconomic, health and food and nutritional security profile of vegetable growers in the city of São Paulo.

In general, this population is made up of retired black men, with an average age of 65, with low levels of education and who migrated from rural areas, where they had previously worked in agriculture. They tend to live in regions with lower purchasing power and near the outskirts of cities, but their family income profile varies between those who survive on less than a minimum wage and those who earn between five and ten minimum wages.

In some cases, the vegetable garden is the family's main source of income, but, despite situations of medium and moderate food insecurity having been observed, most of them are food secure, when they obtain food in sufficient quantity and quality without compromising the majority of the household income.

“In my research, it was not possible to make a direct correlation and state that it is the produce from the garden that generates food security for these people, especially because we interviewed only 45 farmers,” emphasizes Escanhoela, who before enrolling in her master’s degree participated in agroecology projects aimed at women. “However, when we surveyed the same socioeconomic profile and compared the levels of food security, we were able to see that people who are not farmers have less security than those I surveyed. So we can suspect that there is a relationship and it would be interesting to investigate this further,” the researcher assesses.

When she began her master's degree, the engineer wanted to find out whether involvement with vegetable gardens actually influenced the health and well-being of farmers in Campinas. However, there was a lack of systematic information about who and where these people were, which created the need to map them first.

It is known, based on scientific literature in the area, that the simple act of caring for vegetable gardens brings a series of benefits that range from the most immediate, in terms of nutrition – with a greater consumption of fresh vegetables –, to improvements in mental health and emotional regulation of individuals and to the promotion of collective work in agricultural communities.

Although it was not possible to verify this relationship, the farmers' statements indicate a result similar to that in the literature. Most of them have a good outlook on their own health and there are reports of overcoming emotional issues such as depression, lowering glucose levels and reducing blood pressure.

“Getting your hands dirty can be healing! The research was conducted in the area of ​​public health to demonstrate this type of relationship. This area seeks to understand how people get sick, why they get sick and what alleviates the disease, beyond the use of medication. So we look for care and healing options based on other logics,” comments Professor Herling Alonzo, who supervised the study.

Public policies

In her survey, Escanhoela found 194 people working in 40 Urban Agricultural Production Units, mostly located in occupied areas. These gardens were identified through a sort of word of mouth, after an initial visit to the Itajaí Community Garden, located in the Campo Grande district. Based on the information provided by the farmers she spoke to, the researcher checked on Google Earth to see if there was any evidence of a garden existing in the indicated location and, if so, went into the field to inspect the plantation and interview the workers.

In addition to the surprise regarding the reason why these people grow vegetables, other expectations were also questioned throughout the study.

In general, the literature in this area describes collective work as a source of well-being for horticulturists because, among other characteristics, it allows the development of supportive relationships. However, among urban farmers in Campinas, a different view of collective work predominates, seeing it as a source of stress. Those who work in groups describe several situations of conflict and exhaustion, while people who work individually say they prefer to continue that way.

The author suspects that this factor is a symptom of the individualistic social reality that predominates in large cities. She also believes that there is a relationship with the lack of public policies aimed at urban agriculture in the city of São Paulo.

“In the absence of a government policy, they occupy public areas individually. The big exception is Horta do Itajaí, where the farmers were settled. The tendency, however, is for them to settle and create plantations in areas that were not designated for this purpose. And, without the allocation of resources, inputs and technical assistance, the gardens are set up more individually. Especially because managing a group would represent an additional task to perform”, he assesses.

In 2024, Campinas regulated its Municipal Policy for Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture, which had been enacted in 2021. The initiative includes identifying potential areas for plantations, in addition to releasing requests for use of those that are already occupied. This would provide a guarantee for farmers. As there is legal uncertainty related to the use of these lands, the group lives in fear of losing access to the planted areas and avoids making large investments in these locations. The engineer notes, however, that without the allocation of funds, there will hardly be a real change in the situation of farmers.

During the development of the law, Escanhoela and Alonzo participated in a city government working group, contributing to the creation of a tool for mapping urban gardens. They believe that this type of collaboration is essential to ensure that academic work does not remain “shelved” and that the knowledge accumulated at universities can be applied in practice.

“During the dissertation, we contacted the city government, discovered the group and participated. And we took many of the things we discovered in the research to the group discussions and helped to rethink alternatives. For me, this is very important because it is a way of doing extension from the postgraduate level,” said the professor.