"Fé na horta, colheremos": a agricultura urbana como instrumento de luta do MTST

Abstract

This study highlights the relevance of urban and peri-urban agriculture as an emerging phenomenon within the occupations of the MTST (Homeless Workers' Movement) in the peripheries of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region. It emphasizes its multi-functionality and crucial role in the struggle for fundamental rights, such as access to land, affordable housing, and food security and sovereignty. This exploratory and descriptive research employs a methodological framework that integrates participatory research and hermeneutic dialectics, focusing on the collective garden of the Carolina Maria de Jesus Occupation between 2022 and 2023. Our findings indicate that this agricultural practice provides an immediate response to hunger and subsistence needs and serves as a space for resistance and empowerment. By fostering solidarity and collective building through this praxis, the movement strengthens its social and political engagement, creating a more just and sustainable city. Thus, the urban and peri-urban agriculture practiced by the MTST, preliminarily termed "homeless agriculture," emerges as a vital instrument in the pursuit of dignity and quality of life for peripheral populations, reflecting a new paradigm of struggle that integrates food production and social rights within a framework of social transformation.