Bases para a conservação biocultural de plantas alimentícias não convencionais

Abstract

In Brazil, many plant species have been incorporated into the concept of unconventional food plants (PANC). These plants have food utility, but are unknown or unused by most people. However, PANC have several nutritional, ecological and social benefits. The consumption of these plants can provide a series of important nutrients for our body, in addition to contributing to the food diversification of the entire population. From an ecological point of view, they are usually associated with sustainable production models. In addition, its consumption can contribute to the generation of income in the countryside, since family farmers and extractivists are usually the main suppliers of these products. Thus, the popularization of PANC, observing the care with their natural stocks, can contribute to the dissemination of these species in anthropic areas and consequently to biocultural conservation. In this sense, this research sought to establish bases for the biocultural conservation of PANC. The work is composed of three chapters based on ethnobiology and psychology, addressing the factors that interfere with behavioral intentions in relation to PANC, from a look at extractivists and potential consumers. Through a participatory approach, we identified the fruit species known and/or used by extractivists. Through semi-structured interviews, we seek to answer what are the factors that determine the consumption and trade of certain wild fruit species among extractivists from two rural communities in northeastern Brazil. In addition, this study sought to understand the main barriers and challenges to the popularization of PANC and the factors that affect behavioral intentions in relation to them. For this, an online survey was carried out with students from the Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil. The influence of the PANC label on national acceptance expectations was also evaluated, carried out through an online form prepared by Limesurvey and sensory evaluations were carried out at public fairs (conventional and agroecological) and at a private university and a federal institute, both in Maceió and Metropolitan region. The results showed that the individual's spatial availability was the variable that stood out the most to explain both the number of users and traders. However, for extractivists who overcome the barrier of availability, flavor is the most important factor in the intensity of consumption and in the commercial potential of the plants. In contexts where wild edible plants do not form the basis of the local diet, flavor may be more relevant in relation to other variables such as nutritional potential. For potential consumers, the main barriers to consumption were access to products and lack of information about them. In addition, food neophobia and prior knowledge were directly related to the desire to consume PANC. Therefore, devising strategies to overcome food neophobia among potential consumers, in addition to initiatives that increase people's familiarity with PANC, can contribute to increasing people's willingness to consume them. More experiments and tests with different species are still needed, evaluating different labels and information linked to them, so that we can, in fact, have more concrete results about the influence of labels on these new products and infer what would be the best ways to present them. to the consumer market.