Vulnerabilidade e Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional em uma comunidade de pescadores do município de Macaé

Abstract

The Brazilian Food and Nutritional Security policy (SAN) main focus is the so called traditional communities, such as riverside communities, indigenous communities and fishermen communities. The relevance of SAN in the Brazilian national context can be understood by considering the historical process of marginalization of these people and the growing difficulties that these communities have to face to maintain their way of life. SAN helps the persistency of artisanal fishermen because, among its determinations, reaffirms the importance of sustainable way of food production of these fishermen. However, most studies related to SAN and traditional communities address this subject by focusing on access problems to food and ignoring, in most cases, a most needed reflection concerning other aspects of the multiple dimensions related to these people daily life such as healthcare, tradition, culture and sustainability. Thus, the present work aimed to investigate SAN in the context of theoretical framework on vulnerability used, mainly, in the Collective Health research field. Food vulnerability situations were identified based on the SAN dimensions and the individual, social and programmatic/institutional aspects of vulnerability. The research methods were direct observation and interviewing of twelve fishermen of Z-03 Fishermen Colony in the city of Macaé, in the east coast of Rio de Janeiro state. This city presents some peculiarities that arose from the explosive economic growth based on oil exploitation. This fast growth this not prioritized the increase of freedoms that should be the end and de meaning of the every development process. The achievement of freedom can be augmented by public policies that reciprocally, may also be influenced by the use that the populations make of the participatory ability. The elements of the food vulnerability in the individual, social and institutional sphereswere identified with in the multiple dimensions of SAN. There for is conclude that the situations of food vulnerability experienced by fishermen are, partly, mitigated that by group social networks. The present study does not intend that the fishermen become stagnated in the development process but longs that they be includes in such process in order to reduce the existed social inequalities.