Comparative analysis of price of conventional and agroecological foods in Recife and Olinda / PE

Abstract

Organic food is always referred to as high-priced for the final consumer, but agro-ecological
fairs, have democratized access to this type of food and played a very important role in the
economic consolidation of many peasant families. This work aims to compare the price of
conventional and agroecological foods in order to portray such scenario. Thus, in the months
of june and september 2015, we compared the prices of 20 foods in three supermarkets and
three street markets in the metropolitan region of Recife with the average prices of the Rede
Espaço Agroecológico advised to Centro Sabiá. We find that buying conventional foods in supermarkets
can be 92% more expensive than in the agro-ecological fair. Conventional street
markets shows were about 6% cheaper or up to 12% more expensive. We conclude that the
agroecological fairs it is possible to access organic food by paying less, equal or a little more.