Getting to know the Caiçara Agroecological Network

June 10th is my birthday, I love birthdays, including my rs. And the best gift we can get for a birthday, in my opinion, is knowledge.

Knowing does not take up space and makes us more enlightened, more seasoned and with choices. Knowing the reason for things goes beyond the physical limit and brings us to the awareness that we are a grain of sand in an immense universe of possibilities, but extremely important for the social gear in which we live.

This gear depends a lot on solidary practices, empathy and holding relevant information on how we can improve its progress. And when I speak of solidarity, I do not mention donations of any kind, but reciprocal responsibility, just understanding and respecting the pain or joy of the other.

This year my gift was to visit the Caiçara de Ubatuba Agroecological Network, which is a collective of responsible production and consumption, which was based on the following principles:

– NETWORK = Solidarity, collectivism, volunteering and most importantly, trust. Within these principles, employees sign an adhesion term and commit themselves to the principles of the network, in going to meetings, to collaborate with a symbolic annual fee for the maintenance and operation of fairs, they submit to the internal rules written by the collective and seek a new form of commercialization by solidary economy;

– AGROECOLOGICAL = For fresh products, the organic and agroecological quality is mandatory, audited, registered by MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture) as OCS (Social Control Organization) or certified by the network also for social control. For artisans, they must be as organic as possible, contain labels, follow the RDC 49/2013 standard by Anvisa which provides for regularization for the exercise of activity of health interest of the individual micro entrepreneur, for rural family enterprise and for economic solidarity enterprise . And also to the organic legislation, not making use of the elements prohibited by law such as transgenics, dyes, flavors, sweeteners, hydrogenated vegetable fat and chemical yeast;

– CAIÇARA = Use local production as much as possible, so that the money circulates within the municipality, respecting the land and what it can offer within the climate we are in, making partnerships for what cannot be produced here, first in municipal, regional, state and finally national. Stimulates and conducts collective purchases, prioritizing organic, family farming, artisanal products, cooperatives and settlements.

All of these are the basic, primordial principles, since common sense must be used for many collective decisions, such as who can or cannot trade on the network and assess individual needs for income generation and social inclusion.

From this perspective, we can see that every society needs politics to survive, and understand, far from being partisan, politics at its root is the art or science of organizing, directing and managing. When money circulates in the city, local income increases, the employment rate increases and there is also a better distribution of income.

The Caiçara de Ubatuba Agroecological Network was created to promote family and agroecological agriculture in the municipality and so that we can be aware, that we seek a better quality of life for ourselves, our surroundings and the environment. Valuing those who set out to know the land and feed their neighbor is admirable. What we have here in Ubatuba, in terms of the quality of organic food, is very rare, since the fight for the non-use of pesticides in the plantations is great, but it faces powerful forces such as the agrochemical industry and the media.

It is incredible to note that, a tourist city like ours, with such a large and diverse gastronomic chain, the vast majority, does not know or use the products of local producers, but of large distributors. At least controversial.

Leaving the comfort zone and thinking that the good of others is favorable to my life, it is not easy and unfortunately we were not educated for that. But the difficult is not impossible, try to get information, understand and know about what is going on at your table, it is not just a decision-making instrument with regard to the acceptance or not of agroecological products, it is a job that involves individual responsibility for consumption and how it affects society as a whole. The network, together with its partners that make up the network, guides, offers courses for those who want to make a smooth transition from their products to become organic and collaborates for the acquisition of certification, OCS declaration, among other forms of organic certification, of free of charge.

Get to know, really, and attend the network fairs, talk to employees, they are always very good-natured and willing to help, it is good for the body and the soul, believe me.

To find updated information about the producers go to www.chefroberta.com.br/rede-agroecologica