Project selected in the first Amazon Fund’s direct public call-to-submission of sustainable production projects.

CONTEXTUALIZATION

Using Agro-forestry Systems (SAFs) brings innumerous socio-economic and environmental advantages in relation to the traditional uses of land, making it more and more important to foster sustainable rural development.

These advantages make SAFs particularly helpful in environmental recovery by economically involving family farmers in the region within the scope of the project. Located in the southeast area of the state of Mato Grosso, social conflict is common in the region due to the growing agricultural business and the high concentration of land ownership.

Despite their growth over the last few years – and the significant importance of traditional communities, small farmers and indigenous populations – products from SAFs occupy a small part of the formal economy. Located far from the main markets, limited access to capital and information, lacking infrastructure and the scarcity of skilled workers are some of the challenges. There are also problems related to developing technology for planting, management, enhancement, storage, quality control, as well as regulatory and legal aspects. Adding up the social factors related to community production, such as social organization, administrative and participative management, we have a clearer notion of the context that involves agro-forestry production in the Amazon.

THE PROJECT

The project consists of an initiative to disseminate agroforestry systems in the south-western region of the state of Mato Grosso, including strengthening the production of honey and integrating the stages of production, processing and commercialization of products that come from agroforestry systems of family farmers.

Within the scope of project, the following activities are planned: (i) planting of 250 hectares of agroforestry systems; (ii) support to increase the production of honey to the tune of 12 tons/year; (iii) expanding two honey houses; (iv) modernizing/expanding five processing plants for products from agroforestry systems; (v) support the marketing of products derived from agroforestry systems at the local, institutional and extra-regional markets; (vi) direct technical assistance (ATER) for 250 families to implement agroforestry systems and to operate 07 processing units supported by the project; and (vii) training 30 family farmers to conduct projects related to environmental restoration and agroforestry production.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project falls within 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

In beekeeping promotion actions, 500 hives were installed for 100 families. The project also carried out structural renovations and purchased equipment to install five minimum processing units (PA Margarida Alves in support of Grupo das Margaridas and PA Roseli Nunes in support of Arpa – Regional Association of Agroecological Producers, in the municipality of Mirassol d’Oeste; Cooperjauru; Coopermaf; in the CTA itself, in Pontes and Lacerda), and two honey processing houses – honey processing house in ACA, in the municipality of Comodoro, and the honey processing house of the Portence Association of Beekeepers and Farmers of the Family Agriculture of Porto Esperidião (APA), in Porto Esperidião.

Regarding processing agroforestry production, the industry, together with the other units, enabled executing 127 contracts for marketing projects in the institutional market and other markets. Thirty-four tons of fruits were produced and processed, 80% of which came from productive backyards and SAFs articulated in the project.

It is worth mentioning the feasibility of registering the “Sabor dos Vales” brand with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) and the establishment of labels and barcode acquisitions that provided legal certainty and added value to the 16 types of pulps and honey with the registered trademark.

The Agroecological and Solidary Family Agriculture Business Office (Enafas) was created as an instrument supported by the project to coordinate marketing actions, such as itinerant fairs in municipalities that support organizations articulated with the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the National School Feeding Program (Pnae). Since 2018, Enafes created the “Caminhos da Agroecologia” marketing route, which strengthened the articulation of all these actions and also implemented, via an app called “Kyte,” online sales and delivery.

Within cross-sectional activities were carried out:

• Seminar on marketing strategies;
• Seminar “Healthy Eating and Solidarity Markets”; fair “Venue of Family Agriculture and Culture,” in Pontes e Lacerda, with the articulated organizations;
• Assistance to the articulated organizations for the Pnae;
• Assistance in accessing ARPA, in Mirassold’Oeste (Mato Grosso), and the Regional Association of Extractive Producers of the Pantanal (Arpep), CTA and indigenous villages to the PAA market of the 2nd Battalion of the Border Army;
• Implementation of the agroecological fair in Porto Esperidião;
• Training Course for Technical Agroenvironmental Agents (7th Module of 10) with 30 young people and women, in addition to courses, workshops, field days and exchanges with beneficiaries on agroecology;
• Beekeeping workshop in the Lourival Abic settlement project, in partnership with APA;
• Beekeeping workshop for creating a honey production group with young indigenous people of the Nambikwara ethnic group, in the municipality of Comodoro, which enabled creating a group of 12 young people organized by the association of indigenous youth (Anjina);
• Training workshop on developing socio-environmental projects for leaders of articulated organizations to enable them to present projects to the public notice for small socio-environmental projects (PPPecos), via the People and Nature Institute (ISPN), with resources from the Amazon Fund. Twenty-two organizations and more than 50 leaders among men, young people and women were trained.

In all, the project supported the training of 114 individuals in SAFs, technologies for processing production and topics related to the sale of agroforestry products.

Planning and monitoring activities for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Ater) actions, technical visits to beneficiary families for the project’s “referential framework”, the preparation of SAFs and the implementation of hives and assistance to the indigenous villages Fazendinha and Acorizal were also carried out. Fifty families benefited from technical assistance for planting, management and/or marketing of agroforestry products. 

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS OF CTA IN IMPLEMENTING THE PROJECT

 *SAF - Agroforestry Systems