CONTEXTUALIZATION 

The Banco do Brasil Foundation (FBB) began operations in February 1988 aimed at financing projects in a wide array of areas, such as foodstuffs, health, education, employment and housing. It operates in the entire national territory by developing, implementing, accompanying and assessing programs and projects in partnership with other governmental and non-governmental institutions.

The foundation focuses on the social pyramid, specifically the public prioritized in public policies, including indigenous communities, former slave communities [quilombolas] and those in Agrarian Reform settlements. Standing out in the strategic aims is the development of initiatives within the scope of solidarity economies and efforts through multiplying programs that ramp upscale, bringing about social impact in the regions and communities they operate in.

THE PROJECT

The project is part of a technical and financial cooperation proposal between the Amazon Fund and the FBB, aimed at supporting projects that help develop production activities in accordance with conservation and the sustainable use of the Amazon Biome.

Efforts to receive support will be chosen by the foundation based on a territorial diagnosis and on the feasibility and relevance of their application and development. For this, the FBB will engage in dialogue with the local communities to assist in several stages of the process.

With this, it is expected that support will be offered to subprojects such as those structuring solidarity undertakings in production activities in the region, namely, açaí berries, cupuaçu fruit, Brazil nuts, bananas, cocoa, beekeeping, fish farming, babaçu berries, guarana berries, oils and essences, cassava root, passion fruit, local fishing, rubber, arts and crafts and agroecology.

Social technologies are expected to be re-applied in several areas, for example, food safety, recovery of degraded areas, rational management and the use of soil in agroforestry systems, as well as support for efforts aimed at land-title regularization and environmental licensing, sustainable forest management, reforestation, forest certification and recovery of deforested areas.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project is part of the "Sustainable Production" (1) component of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework. 

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

The supported activities are part of the sustainable productive activities promotion axis, which involves actions to structure, strengthen, and consolidate sociobiodiversity and sustainable family farming production chains, with support for the structuring of collective enterprises and the provision of technical assistance.

A total of 32 subprojects were supported, implemented by 28 institutions, distributed across seven states in the Amazon, covering more than 40 municipalities.

The subprojects were developed with indigenous communities, family farming organizations, and extractive communities, focusing on the structuring and consolidation of production chains traditionally managed in the region, such as: Brazil nuts, cumaru, cocoa, honey, copaiba, handicrafts, fish farming, coffee, guaraná, babaçu, cassava, fruit pulp, horticulture, açaí, taperebá, bacaba, bacuri, buriti, oilseeds, latex, and community forest management. The actions were aimed at management, processing, organic certification, and commercialization, with the goal of generating income, food security, and nutritional security.

Among the interventions, the structuring of enterprises stands out, with the acquisition of equipment, machinery, vehicles, and inputs, which expanded the productive capacity of the enterprises. The continued use of these assets even after the projects concluded demonstrates the effectiveness in identifying needs and defining solutions, as well as the sustainability of the benefits for the communities served.

As a result of the activities promoted by the subprojects:

• 8,856 people benefited, including 2,625 women, 3,122 indigenous people, and 889 settlers;
• 1,046 rural properties received technical assistance and rural or agroforestry extension services;
• 816,170 hectares of forest were directly managed as a result of the supported project;
• 104 community organizations were strengthened;
• 4,029 individuals were trained in the implementation of agroforestry systems, forest management, fishing, aquaculture, agro-extractive production, product processing, etc.

Notable actions in support of indigenous ethnic groups include:

• Development of the organic Brazil nut production chain in Rondônia and Mato Grosso, in communities linked to the Gavião, Arara, Cinta Larga, and Zóro ethnic groups;
• Support for sustainable income generation for the Kayapó communities through the acquisition of raw materials from Kayapó collectors and the strengthening of the cumaru and cocoa production chains;
• Strengthening sustainable socio-productive experiences in Alto Juruá (Acre), with the construction of 28 fishponds to develop fish farming activities associated with agroforestry systems in the Kaxinawá/Ashaninka Indigenous Lands of Rio do Breu and Kampa of Rio Amônia.

Highlighted actions in support of agrarian reform settlers and other family farmers include:

• Implementation of 315 units of the Integrated and Sustainable Agroecological Production (PAIS) social technology in the states of Tocantins, Rondônia, Roraima, and Acre, which promotes organic agriculture through production processes without pesticides;
• Support for the babaçu production chain management, with the establishment of a small agroindustry in a settlement in Rondônia;
• Implementation of a fruit and native seedling nursery in Rondônia;
• Support for agricultural production, processing, and distribution in the Vila Amazônia settlement project in Parintins, Amazonas, and the Santo Antônio do Murituba community in Pará;
• Technical and administrative structuring of the organic guaraná production chain in Rondônia, with the reactivation of a small guaraná agroindustry;
• Development of the organic and shaded coffee production chain in Rondônia;
• Development of the honey production chain in Roraima, with the training of beekeepers, the establishment of a honey house, and the acquisition of a state inspection seal;
• Implementation of a fruit pulp processing unit in Manicoré, Amazonas.

It is also worth noting:

• The systematization of three territorial agroecology networks in the Amazon, all participants of the 2014 Ecoforte Networks Call: the Maniva Agroecology Network (AM), the Encauchados Network (PA), and the Bico Agroecological Network (TO). These experiences have resulted in valuing agrobiodiversity, increasing production and processing scale, and establishing new marketing channels closely connected to consumers, while adopting participatory certification of organic production. These initiatives are featured in the book “Agroecology Networks for Territorial Development: Lessons from the Ecoforte Program”;
• The production of newsletters on social technologies developed and/or implemented collectively within the territorial agroecology networks, which were distributed during exchange and training activities in their territories.