Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso – Instituto Floresta (Forest Institute), an NGO headquartered in Alta Floresta, in the state of Mato Grosso, should establish a project for the control of forest fires on the BR-163, on the stretch from Guarantã do Norte (Mato Grosso state) to Santarém, in Pará, a stretch of over 1,000 kilometres. The environmental work is part of the works for reconstruction of the road and the invitation to the organisation was made by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT), according to the chief executive office at the institute, Marília Carnhelutti.
This part of Cuiabá-Santarém highway, mostly mud and in bad conditions is considered one of the logistics bottlenecks in Brazil and, like the Trans-Amazonian, is a symbol of occupation of the region promoted during the military dictatorship in Brazil, from 1964 to 1985. At the time, the residents were settled without the necessary infrastructure and training considered essential nowadays.
The project consists of generating awareness among the population about the risks and dangers of forest fires, as well as teaching alternatives to the use of fire and establishing fire brigades, a program that the organisation has developed in 17 cities in the Amazon with the support of the government of Italy. According to Marília, the field works should begin in January.
The project that the organisation promotes is called Amazônia sem Fogo (Fireless Amazon) and, according to the CEO, over the last 10 years, no more uncontrollable fires have broken out in the region, except for this year, when the drought was stronger and longer than normal.
Forest fires may be caused on purpose or by accident and, apart from the environmental losses, fires create immense clouds of smoke that cause health problems. “Fire involves everybody and only with the involvement of the entire society can we have better results," said Marília.
In this respect, the work of the institute covers from the creation of fire brigades to the teaching of how to develop controlled fires, to the training of farmers in alternative techniques, like rotation of grazing grounds, among others.
One of the farmers who has already participated in the programme is Ércio Luedke, the owner of Piscicultura Esteio, in Alta Floresta. Born in Chapecó, Santa Catarina, of German origin, he moved to Mato Grosso in the 1970s to work in civil construction. In 1979, having saved up enough money, he bought a 55-hectare property.
"Our instinct was to burn," said Luedke regarding the use of fire for the opening of the area when he started his business. He explains that the idea was that burning eliminated pests eliminated the need to cut down herbs and, as was believed at the time, that the burnt herbs were good for cattle.
Today, his crop is through rotation. Although his main business is raising Amazon fish, he also produces milk, fruit, poultry, honey and forestry products. The fry tanks, for example, are used as food for the cattle during the drought.
But he did not learn it all with the "doctors", as he says, but, often, through trial and error. It was due to a failed attempt for orange production that Luedke entered the fishery business.
He explained that, as soon as he bought the property, he purchased orange saplings which were immediately devoured by ants. But he soon discovered that carps liked ants and bought three from Japan. "I paid the equivalent to two cows," he said. His ant-fed carp worked out and his fish farming prospered.
He no longer breeds carp, and does not feed his fish with ants, now using feed and smaller fish. "Too many ants," he joked. He produces several local species, mainly tambaqui.
On his property, he produces between 30,000 and 40,000 tonnes of fish per year, and has even exported to China and Japan. Curiously, his main market is in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, where the species was drastically reduced due to commercial fishing.
Reforestation
Another example of his learning from practice also took place in the area of citrics. He planted saplings of tangerines that he later discovered diseased. He abandoned the orchard, without pulling the trees out, and planted native species in the surrounding area. After reforestation, the fruit trees improved and started producing. "The native trees in our region eliminate the diseases that come from other areas," he said.
Pleased with his diversified production, Luedke said he offers products for all incomes. "Those who do not have money to buy a goose can buy a duck, those who cannot buy a turkey, can buy a cockerel," he joked.
Marília and the institute’s biologist, Marcos Roberto Tiso, showed the members of the E.torQ Amazon Journey, among them ANBA, other examples of sustainable production and reforestation of the region. The car trip across the Amazon was sponsored by FTP, a maker of Fiat engines.
One is farmer condominium Agrosul, which produces organic sugar. Seven families grow sugarcane and make brown sugar, rapadura (dried sugarcane juice) and molasses in a small agroindustry. Among the growers are brothers Cícero and José Santana Rampaso, originally from Paraná.
"The cane was never fertilized, only using lime for correction of the soil," said Cícero. The business with organics started five years ago and the condominium has already exported to Austria. Trade is through the Cooperative of Ecological Farmers of the Amazon Portal (Cooperagrepa). The property also produces milk, avocado, coffee, guarana and beef cattle.
João Martins Bernal, originally from São Paulo, in turn, manages his land for pleasure, as he has income from real estate in the city and from a larger farm in the region. Apart from growing several fruit and vegetables, he reforested most of his property with native plants. "I grow them because I like them," said the friendly 76-year-old man.
Other farmers, like Ana Lopes de Souza and Gabriel Mendes dos Santos, are recovering part of the original plant coverage on their lands with the assistance of the Forestry Environment Secretariat.
Salvador da Silva, from Ribeirão Preto, on the other, hand, a true environmental activist, became a specialist in medicinal plants. After several courses and much reading on treatment called “bioenergetics”, he started treating people in the region with the aid of his wife, Célia. He prescribes teas made from herbs grown on his land.
“Our Amazon is very rich," he said. "We have things to cure the world," he added. With his children, he also produces some organics, like guarana, coffee and honey. Silva also has some cocoa plants. "But monkeys eat it all," he said, laughing.
Contacts
Instituto Floresta
Tel.: (+55 66) 3521-1428 / 2128
E-mail: marilia@institutofloresta.org.br
Piscicultura Esteio
Tel.: (+55 66) 3521-3441
Mobile: (+55 66) 8404-1212
Cooperagrepa
Tel.: (+55 66) 3534-1884
E-mail: cooperagrepa@yahoo.com.br
Site: www.bioagrepa.com
*Translated by Mark Ament
