Ecosocioeconomies and local development: Experiences in an urban farmers market in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Urban markets are a complex and unique ecosocioeconomic phenomenon, constituting micro-societies with their own social, political, and economic rationales which provide alternatives to the prevailing logic. This article analyzes the farmers market in the Amazonian city of Castanhal, Pará, Brazil from an ecosocioeconomic point of view, and is based on documentary analysis and oral statements taken from vendors. The findings show that for over three decades, this urban farmers market has functioned as a micro-society based on the emerging rationalities which result from everyday internal and external relationships; the market is a significant political and social actor within the network of urban governance and the local rural production chain. The vendors state that the market works in concert with the rules of local government are economically self-sufficient, have operational autonomy and socially constructed legitimacy, and that ecosocioeconomic relationships emerge from satisfiers which are located between the needs of work and leisure. In conclusion, this urban farmers market is socially and economically important for vendors, producers, and local residents, and its operation is linked to environmental sustainability criteria based on appropriate technologies and local knowledge.