Conserving biodiversity, consolidating seed marketing in the Portal da Amazônia region, in northern Mato Grosso, generating income and strengthening family farming. These are some of the objectives of the project "Portal da Amazônia Seed Network: strengthening family farming in northern Mato Grosso", which was executed by the PPP-ECOS Fund, with resources from the Amazon Fund, through a partnership with a local organization, the Nova Guarita Mixed Agricultural Cooperative (Cooperguarita).
“It is an emblematic case, especially given the importance of the topic of biome restoration and seed collection,” highlights Isabella Fagundes, technical advisor at the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), which is monitoring the project's implementation.
Under the leadership of Cooperguarita, an eco-social experience is positively impacting the local landscape of nine municipalities in the Legal Amazon. The initiative resulted in the installation of 11 Seed Houses that are part of a network, functioning as storage spaces, meeting places for training, and other community activities.
Márcio Dellabiglia is part of the Network as a collector and explains that participating in this initiative makes “us relate to the environment and the forest in a different way, with the goal of conservation. I always had this desire to live in harmony with nature, until I met the Seed Network and I remain firm in this way of thinking,” highlights the collector, who started working in the project as a sales agent. He also points out that he and other collectors find in the Network a way to generate extra income for their families.
According to Vanderson Eliel Meira, from Cooperguarita and the Portal da Amazônia Seeds Network, through the PPP-ECOS program, the cooperative and the network managed to stay afloat and revitalize the collectors and farmers who are part of the group.
“Without support, we went through a difficult time where we couldn’t sustain ourselves on our own. With the support of PPP-ECOS, we were able to maintain a technical-administrative professional in the cooperative and leverage other activities by accessing other projects,” he explains.
Throughout the 30 months of implementation, training activities were carried out in seed handling and processing, equipment was acquired for the Seed Houses, a vehicle was purchased to assist the group's work, and communication materials were developed to publicize the initiative and explain the importance of restoration.
“This process results in the appreciation of the collectors – who are indispensable because, without them, the network does not exist,” Eliel points out.
For Isabella, from ISPN, “it is urgent that we learn about and support this type of initiative, which is pioneering in this region, marked by the strong presence of family farming, but also by a lot of resistance and struggle for agrarian reform.
Productive eco-social landscape
The Seed Network initiative is yet another successful eco-social experience, implemented with support from the PPP-ECOS Fund, with financial resources from the Amazon Fund.
Through ISPN's institutional strategy for the Promotion of Productive Eco-social Landscapes, the Cooperguarita project shapes the landscape of the Amazon biome, integrating the rural communities of Nova Guarita, Alta Floresta, Santa Helena, Carlinda, Apiacás, Colíder, Nova Canaã, and Terra Nova do Norte.
The productive nature of the activity is expressed in family farming and the collection of diverse seeds in large quantities.
The eco-social component is reflected in the participation of families involved in projects carried out by local community organizations – a collective decision-making body.
ISPN has been working to conserve biomes for over 33 years, a period in which this and many other stories have reaffirmed the concept of an ecosocial productive landscape as the focus of the PPP-ECOS strategy.
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* This material was produced within the scope of the 3rd ECOS of the Amazon, a meeting in Brasília-DF that will be held on October 24, 25 and 26, marking the end of another stage of PPP-ECOS projects supported by the Amazon Fund.
Text by Camila Araujo/ISPN Communications Office.