Agrobiodiversity in the lower Rio Negro
Support this projectMariana Gama Semeghini, created this project in 2005 to protect biodiversity and local agriculture in an area threatened by deforestation. Mariana shares the knowledge of local communities and promotes knowledge exchanges, in order to live in harmony with the Amazon.
This project deals directly with the issues of agriculture, food security and cultural valuation through innovative fronts in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The objective of the project is to develop and consolidate agroecological production systems and agrobiodiversity products, through participatory ethnoecological research, training and exchange of experiences, adding value to local knowledge, generating income, entrepreneurship and strengthening local organizations. The main actions of the project are the following:
– Development of agrobiodiversity products
Support for the production, dissemination and commercialization (within the principles of solidarity economy and fair trade) of agrobiodiversity products of populations in the lower Rio Negro, where the following are emphasized: agricultural products, fruits and sweets made from regional fruit. The project develops training, promoting the participation of production groups of women in regional and national markets. The sweets (jams, biscuits and candy) are produced by a group of women, from locally grown fruits. This group of women provides breakfast, using regional products, in a community-based tourism itinerary in the region.
– Participatory Research
Participatory research about local knowledge, use and development of agrobiodiversity in traditional agricultural landscapes is central to the project. It seeks to understand the definitions, classifications and use of agrobiodiversity. We integrate ethno-botanical knowledge in the conservation of phytogenic resources and the valuing and protection of associated traditional knowledge. The goal of this initiative is the characterization of knowledge from communities along the Cuieiras River. We also seek information on the fauna and fish exploited through hunting/fishing in the region.
– Participative methodology and agroecological extension
Education, agroecological extension and social organization initiatives are carried out through a participative and constructive method. Here, dialogue between traditional and technical/scientific knowledge is encouraged, as is the valuing of local knowledge and empowerment of groups. The techniques used focus on valuing, mobilizing, integrating and organizing groups during informal talks, meetings, diagnoses, participative planning, workshops, activities, entertainment activities and other exchanges.
– Strengthening community organizations
Forming associations and entrepreneurial partnerships with local communities and organizations.
– Agroforestry
Agroecological activities combine ways to stimulate and involve communities in the identification and development of sustainable practices. In accordance with the principles and ethics of permaculture land. We seek to stimulate social and ecological solutions generated within communities. Agroforestry systems were identified as sustainable agricultural systems of high productivity and they were adapted to the local context.
Initial Problem
The indigenous and riverine communities of the lower Rio Negro, in Amazon biome, have acquired local knowledge about the use and management of biodiversity and landscape over the years. There is a strong interdependence on this diversity for their daily activities, such as agriculture, extractivism, hunting and fishing. The agricultural systems involve a mosaic of cultivated spaces, where the field, homergardens and secondary forest stand out, integrated with the forest. The most common form of agriculture in the region is the slash and burn technique, which allows for the cultivation of agrobiodiverse crops and the cassava is the central crop. Among local residents, there is a trade of fruit, fish, manioc flour and its by-products.
There is not, however, effective improvement in income and quality of life through these activities due to the difficulty of local organization, selling and inserting products in the market with fair prices. In recent decades, moreover, logging has become significant. It has been developed, however, in an illegal and unsustainable way, under precarious social conditions and has caused the abandonment of traditional practices of agriculture and extractivism. The erosion of diversification of traditional agricultural diversity is of special importance in the case of the Amazon, considering its role as a source of cultivated plants.
The positive impacts that the project has made:
– Training and exchange of experiences that benefitted 150 family farmers and women from the communities of the region, through participatory methodology, in association for business, entrepreneurship, agroecology and production improvement;
– Implementation of 20 areas of agroforestry systems, with more than 20 species;
– Improvement of product quality and production and processing processes;
– Participation of a group of women that produces sweets in several fairs of regional, national and international scope, which has acted in the autonomy, self-esteem and empowerment of these women;
– Participation of farmers in the organic fair;
– Increase in household income;
– Strengthening of women’s productive organizations and associations;
– Valorization of local knowledge and agrobiodiversity;
– Strengthening of agroecology
The project has been awarded with the following recognitions: The Professor Samuel Benchimol and Banco da Amazônia Award for Conscious Entrepreneurship (2010), the FINEP Social Technology Award (2012), a Certification as Good Practice in Environmental Education and Family Agriculture by the Environmental Education and Family Agriculture Program of the Ministry of the Environment (2012), the Certification as Social Technology by Banco do Brasil Fundation (2013), and finally, the Best Practices in Local Management Award – Caixa Econômica Federal (2013)
The impacted areas and population:
Protected areas of the lower Rio Negro, where indigenous and riverine people live. These include groups of women and family farmers that deal with topics of autonomy, rights and public policies.
The obstacles and challenges
At first, there was an initial distrust and resistance to getting involved in the project. Also, the unwillingness to learn about new forms of production and organization. This was dealt with using a participatory methodology and by building trusting relationships through exchanges of experience, where organized groups reported their experience and showed that it can work.
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Sustainable Cupuaçu in the Amazon
The Sustainable Cupuaçu in the Amazon project, the result of a partnership established between the Klorane Botanical Foundation (KBF), L’Institut de Recherche Pierre Fabre (IRPF) and Beraca Institute for the Valorization of Sociobiodiversity (IB), was born with the intention of providing farmers and quilombola extractivists a new economic opportunity through the production of cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), a native species to the Amazon, through the Agroforestry System (SAF).
The project was conceived from KBF’s three missions: to protect; to explore; to educate. These missions were the guiding elements for the construction of the project’s objective and action areas, which have the following propositions:
PROTECT – Main element of the project that aims to protect the Amazon biome from the restoration of degraded areas through the implementation of agroforestry systems (SAF) in Bela Aurora Community. The project foresaw the planting of 3,000 feet of cupuaçu (in addition to other Integrated species) in the expectation of a production of around 6 tons of seeds in 3-4 years. The strategy adopted to achieve this objective is to transfer technology between family farmers in the community of Bela Aurora and the community of Santa Luzia, in Tomé Açu, which has a history of production in SAFs.
EXPLORE – The pillar aims to systematize and disseminate knowledge from the project’s learning and results, through scientific publications, congresses, etc.
EDUCATE – Consists on conducting workshops with children and young people from the Bela Aurora community, seeking to reinforce the element of environmental education in SAF cultures. This formal moment aims to help develop a more theoretical and critical perception of reality, focusing on the role of human beings in nature, the dynamics of trees in the forest and the importance of preserving biodiversity to maintain the balance of the biome. Within the initiatives aimed at implementing the SAFs, Six training workshops were planned, which involve activities to raise awareness of the importance of restoring degraded areas, preserving the environment and agro-ecological production with family farmers in Bela Aurora.
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