Agroecology and health

The historical advances in science and technology have caused paradigm shifts in agriculture especially with the transformations resulting from the chemical industry added to the biotechnological revolution. Today due to the evidence of the socio-environmental harmfulness of this model a new technological matrix is needed to replace the hegemonic one. This study seeks to highlight the challenges of agroecology in the construction of a technological reconversion that is sustainable socially just and economically viable in the context of an agrarian reform settlement in the Northeast of Brazil. The aim is to understand the strengths and limitations of an incomplete agrarian reform process. The study site was the Chico Mendes III Settlement Zona da Mata in Pernambuco which has adopted agro-ecology as a supportive and sustainable production option. The social determination of health was the category that guided the systematization and analysis of the study. As a main result we have that: the agroecological experience lived although still with limitations as evidenced presents strengths that translate into processes that favor health and quality of life.