Contribution of landraces for the fulfillment of Agroecology principles: diagnosis of their production and use in rural settlements in the Territory of Prof. Cory/Andradina-SP

Landraces and the knowledge that family farmers have developed about how to cultivate them are important factors in developing sustainable agricultural production, in multidimensional terms. In this work, the objective was to diagnose the production of landraces in the rural settlements in the Territory of Prof. Cory/Andradina-SP and analyze its possible relation to the agroecological transition process. To this end, a semi-open questionnaire was applied in the form of an interview, with 55 guardians identified by the snowball method, in 24 settlements. It was found that the landraces cultivated by the guardians of the Territory can be considered a gateway to the agroecological transition because they allow the fulfillment of the principles of Agroecology, in terms of food security, productive autonomy, biodiversity conservation, and commercialization in short circuits.