The use of the agro-ecological booklet by women from rural communities in the Pro-Semi-Arid project, State of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims to report the experience lived in the Continued Technical Counseling, from the use of the Agro-ecological Notebooks in the scope of the Pro-Semi-Arid project, coordinated by the Development and Regional Action Company, of the State of Bahia, in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The work had, among other objectives, to intervene in the problem of unequal social relations between men and women, trying to promote the active participation of women in development. It was conducted by the technical assistance team of the Socio-Environmental Assistance Service to the Countryside and the City, with female farmers from six rural communities in the municipality of Casa Nova, State of Bahia, Brazil, during a one-year period. The methodological process was carried out in three distinct and interdependent steps: a) presentation of the Agroecological Notebooks to the women farmers using the methodology called Learning Rounds; b) application of a socioeconomic and political participation questionnaire in order to know the profile of these women farmers; and c) construction of the Sociobiodiversity Map. As a result, it was possible to elaborate an analysis of the economic relations, both monetary and non-monetary experienced by the women farmers.