This family agroecological initiative is led and inspired by the feminist farmer Fátima Maria dos Santos, coordinator of the Agroecological and Solidarity Markets Network of the State of Ceará. It supports egalitarian gender relations and promotes solidarity within socially integrated agricultural systems.

The initiative is situated in the Jenipapo community, in the north-eastern region in the Caatinga Biome comprising Coastal Riverside Forest Vegetation on sandy soils.

The agroecosystem is managed by Fátima with the collaboration of her sons and daughters. When presenting a course about Multiplier Agents in Agroecology held by Study Centre for Work and Advice to Workers, (CETRA) in 2004 she realized she was already a practicing agroecological farmer. Since then she has more consciously applied the principles of agroecology in her farming practice, retaining native vegetation and developing agroforestry systems.

The family has a large cistern that is filled with rainwater in the rainy season to support subsystems of:

- Agroecological vegetable production;

- Swidden and cashew trees;

- An agroforestry system comprising forest, native and fruit trees, and crops such as cassava and beans.

Fátima Maria dos Santos is part of the Rural Workers Women’s Movement of the Northeast and one of the articulators of this social movement in her community. The experience of Fátima and other families was essential in the creation of the community seed bank.

This fact sheet is produced as part of the Avaclim project, which aims to create the necessary conditions for the deployment of agroecology in dryland areas. The international solidarity association CARI coordinates the Avaclim project while the Caatinga is in charge of its implementation in Brazil.