Food communities and peasant farms: strategies for food sustainability

Comunidades de alimentos e fazendas de camponeses: estratégias para a sustentabilidade alimentar

Abstract

This article shows the results of the study “Virtual Office of 10,000 sustainable peasant farms from the regions of Santander and Magdalena Medio”. The study is framed in a Colombian social movement for the preservation of the peasant farm as pivotal axis for food sustainability in the territories. The study has a principal aim to identify the organization process of fourteen (14) food communities and the participatory design of the peasant farm model as strategies for food security in the Colombian territories of Magdalena Medio and Santander. The study conducted a mixed methodology with both qualitative and descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative analysis with data collected from participant communities. Data collection was done through focus groups with seven (7) communities and fourteen (14) interviews with food community leaders from eleven (11) municipalities in three different Colombian departments. Results show that the peasant organization structure called food community and the peasant farm participatory models for each territory are strategies that have led to the strengthening of the local autonomy of the peasant communities for the defense of food sustainability practices within their contexts.

Keywords:
peasant farm; community organization; food sustainability