Opinion – Maria Inês Dolci: Community garden is urgent, because hunger does not wait

Carrots, tomato, peppers, melon, watermelon, cabbage, papaya, zucchini, lettuce. These were some of the horticultural products that were 39% to 166% more expensive in the 12-month period in March. This scenario makes the approval of bill 3141/2021, which establishes the National Incentive Plan for Residential and Community Gardens, even more relevant and urgent.

According to the Câmara de Notícias Agency, the plan provides for:

• free distribution of equipment, seeds and basic supplies necessary for the installation and maintenance of the gardens;
• allocation of public or private areas for the implementation of vegetable gardens;
• providing guidance and didactic material that promote awareness and productive organization of communities.

This bill arrived at the Social Security and Family Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in October last year, but did not advance. Perhaps my notion of legislative urgency is different from the one that guides votes in the Chamber, but one must consider that hunger increasingly threatens Brazilians.

Furthermore, even millions who have the income to buy at the fair and at the supermarket eat more processed and ultra-processed products – major health risks – than vegetables and fruits. For this reason, in addition to being sedentary, more than half of the Brazilian population was overweight in 2021.

Community vegetable garden is a shared area where the residents of the region work and harvest the fruits of the land together. Brazil should have this type of planting in all of its more than 5,500 municipalities, especially in the lower-income regions with the highest percentage of socially vulnerable people.
And if in addition to the gardens we had many more public libraries across the country, there would certainly be less hunger, more knowledge and development.

There are noteworthy initiatives. The largest municipality in Brazil, with approximately 12.4 million inhabitants, São Paulo has 106 urban gardens and 170 in public facilities. In Caxias do Sul, the second largest city in Rio Grande do Sul –more than 500,000 inhabitants–, the law establishing the Municipal Urban Agriculture Program came into force.

How is this theme –community gardens– linked to consumer rights? By increasing the supply of quality food to the most vulnerable, consumers who can afford vegetables will also benefit from more reasonable prices.