Representatives from five Brazilian cities are in Europe until June 27 to talk about their experiences in food security in a mission of the country’s agricultural research corporation Embrapa, under the project Cities and Food: Governance and Best Practices to Boost Circular Urban Food Systems, funded by the European Union in Brazil through the EU-BR Dialogues program.

Committees from Marica, Rio de Janeiro, both in Rio de Janeiro state; Curitiba, Santa Catarina; Recife, Pernambuco; Rio Branco, Acre; and Santarem, Para, landed on June 17 and are expected to visit the cities of Valencia and Barcelona, in Spain; Turin and Milan, in Italy; and Ghent and Brussels, in Belgium. The exchange of experiences with European cities is aimed at stepping up urban food systems. The Brazilian cities will showcase projects like the agroecological squares.

The trip also aims to conduct case studies on sustainable urban food systems with cities making up Brazil’s Urban Laboratory of Public Food Policies, for the creation of policies based on the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact.

The committee members should also go on visits to learn more about initiatives such as Porta Palazzo, which recovers unsold food for free distribution and assigns organic waste for composting in Italy, in addition to efforts food waste reduction, solid short production and consumption circuits, food redistribution, educational gardens, and stronger ties between retail and social organizations in Belgium.

Marica, a city in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, has become a global byword in agroecology and urban agriculture after its recent participation in the 8th Global Forum of the Urban Food Policy Pact in Milan, held in October 2022, and the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, which took place in Egypt in November that same year.

The city began building community gardens in public squares in 2020 and now boasts five agroecological squares, also known as edible gardens. Four more are planned. The initiative not only provides people with free food, but also encourage them try home cultivation.

The squares feature 36 garden beds and 60 plant species in spaces for the production of organic food with environmentally friendly techniques. Cabbage, eggplant, kale, arugula, radish, and lettuce are some of the products that Marica residents and tourists can harvest and take home for free.

*Intern supervised by Vinicius Lisboa

Source: Agencia Brasil