Participação e empoderamento: princípios para a conservação de recursos zoogenéticos on farm

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to present theoretical support for on farm livestock conservation. We discuss this relevant strategy of in situ conservation focusing on domestic herds raised and owned by farmers and focusing on governmental attempts for partnerships and policies to conserve and rare the future promising genetic resources. However, more than an attempt to maintain a living gene bank, on farm conservation is a potential method to improve chances of social and productive inclusion in rural areas. This is more likely to work out if an interactive and dialectic approach is adopted. Participation and empowerment are discussed in this paper as mechanisms that may help to insure fair and more sustainable actions, help the establishment of priorities and allow representative planning and diagnosis. Besides this, the adoption of such concepts may enquire farmers in a more protagonist and favorable circumstance. The concepts of participation and empowerment are designated as important guidelines to settle a democratic, friendlier and more intelligent approach for on farm livestock conservation in terms of animal biodiversity maintenance and sustainable rural development.