Índice de Empoderamento Feminino na Agricultura Urbana (IEFAU): contribuições a partir do estudo na Região Metropolitana de Belém (RMB)

Abstract Given the need to propose appropriate public policies for women in the agricultural production environment, the objective of this article is to evaluate the level of empowerment of women who develop UA in the RMB from the creation of the Female Empowerment Index in Urban Agriculture (IEFAU). The method adopted was quantitative and qualitative, through semi-structured interviews and observations carried out with sixty women farmers in their production systems. To create the IEFAU, the linear combination of the factor scores and the proportion of variance explained in each factor was used, followed by the standardisation of the factor scores (FP), in order to obtain positive values and allow the classification of women farmers according to their level of empowerment. The research data on the empowerment of women in the UA was mostly presented in IEFAU-High in the individual format and by categories, a result justified by the promotion of networks of relationships and solid rules of reciprocity and trust built in the environment of organised production, however, it reiterates that, despite the UA contributing to their empowerment, it still needs the action of the State to promote greater incentives for public policies that meet the respective demands, especially for groups of women farmers in their specificities. Keywords: Urban agriculture. Empowerment. Metropolitan Region of Belém.