Sustentabilidade e economia solidária nas Associações Riacho Grande e Cruz da Tereza no município de Coremas-PB.

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the level of sustainability among the rural producers belonging to the Riacho Grande and Cruz da Tereza's communities in the municipality of Coremas-PB and to analyze if the communities develop activities based on the Solidarity Economy as a means of local development. In this context, we sought to identify the characteristics of the population, as indicators that permeate sustainable development, these related to quality of life, social capital and environmental index; identifying agricultural and non-agricultural activities; analyzing which activities are most profitable; addressing the role of associativism. For this, applications of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 producers from each settlement, where the majority of the settlers reside in the communities. The Riacho Grande community has a larger share of male producers with a 69% and female participation with 31%. The overall average age of producers was 47 years for both genders. The quality of life (QLI) of the community was classified as moderate, presenting an index of 0.6509. The social capital index (SCI) was classified as moderate, with 0.6355. The level of environmental preservation expressed by the environmental index was defined as a low level of sustainability, determining the value of 0.11149, which contributed to the community aiming a low level of sustainability according to the evaluation parameters, reaching the value of 0.46. The Cruz da Tereza community shows a predominance of women with 63%, and men with 37%, the general average of community producers was 46 years for both genders. The quality of life of the community (IQV) was considered high in its level of sustainability, soon obtained value equivalent to 0,84, the index of social capital (ICS) was classified as average, presenting the value of 0.53 and its The environmental index (IA) was considered low, indicating a value of 0.26. These results favored the community to obtain an average level of sustainability, presenting a value of 0.54. However, these indices can be improved if environmental practices are directed towards sustainable development and also if the principles of Solidarity Economy are implemented in the associations, being able to provide greater security to the environment and consequently a better quality of life to the rural producers of the communities.