Land preparation, planting, management, and harvesting are the topics covered in this series, which highlights the successful experience of 46 families in Minas Gerais.
Four short videos, each under five minutes long, teach family farmers about proper sustainable cotton production. They are divided by themes (land preparation, planting, management, and harvesting) and offer tips on seed spacing, permitted fertilizers, appropriate harvesting times, and storage. They also provide information on intercropping, which strengthens farmers' food security and prevents cotton pests. The videos are available on [website/platform name - implied but not explicitly stated in the original text]. YouTube Channel from the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), the organization behind the pieces released this month in celebration of April 17th, National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform.
Eighteen communities from eight municipalities located in the Cerrado region of northwestern Minas Gerais, around the city of Arinos, are featured in the videos. There, 46 small-scale farming families benefited from the Sustainable Cotton project, supported by the Fund for the Promotion of Productive Eco-social Landscapes (PPP-ECOS), with funding from the Laudes Foundation. With financial resources and technical support from ISPN, in addition to partnerships with Copabase and Central Veredas, the communities surpassed the mark of five tons of sustainable cotton produced in the 2021 harvest, and also celebrated the abundance of food crops, which ensured full meals during the Covid-19 pandemic that left so many Brazilians in a situation of food insecurity.
Farmer Andreia Frota, one of the beneficiaries of the project, expresses her happiness at having a good cotton harvest, with abundance and diversity in her backyard. “Just being able to eat without pesticides is already a blessing. In family farming, with assistance, we can produce. Our land is our business,” she shares. Born on the farm and a beneficiary of agrarian reform policies, farmer Gaspar Gonçalves also celebrates the project's success, envisioning a better future for the rural population. “I remember when I first entered my land. It was September 22, 2001, the first night I slept on my land, where I still live today and don't intend to leave,” he says.
Cotton production has further strengthened the cultural tradition of weaving and the singing of the spinners, a custom that was maintained by seeking pesticide-free cotton in other regions, since the product with poison intoxicates and sickens the weavers. Haroldo Mendes, a farmer in the project, celebrates this revival. “Forty years ago, my mother had a spinning wheel, but there was a period when we no longer had it. Now, with sustainable cotton, it may reappear,” he comments hopefully.
Antonio Marcos and Anny Caroliny, both technical assistance and rural extension agents who spearheaded the success of the Sustainable Cotton project, recommend that beginners in cotton cultivation start with a small initial area of about one hectare. See below the main points covered in the tutorial videos:
Soil preparation
– Cultivation in strips interspersed with consortia of food species;
– Recommended cotton varieties: BRS 416, BRS 293 and BRS 372;
– Green manure: jack bean, pigeon pea, crotalaria and black mucuna;
– Pay attention to rainfall patterns and analyze the soil;
Seeding
– Sustainable fertilization: rock dust, phosphate, cow manure and bone meal;
– Planting sequence: sesame, cotton and intercropping (food crop);
– Sowing by hand or with a seed drill;
– Tracking via a daily notebook.
Driving
Thinning after 30 days of planting;
– Weed control;
– Control of the most common pests;
Products to prevent pests: quicklime, copper sulfate, raw milk, and cured cow urine.
Harvest
– Dry period, without dew or mist;
– Use only of cotton bags;
– Separation of “first-grade cotton” from “second-grade cotton”;
– Proper storage;
– Cotton planting ban period.
For Jessica Pedreira, a forestry engineer, facilitator, and technical advisor at ISPN, the true protectors of the environment are the peoples, traditional communities, and family farmers. “The way of life of family farmers is an inspiration for learning about how to achieve fair and sustainable development,” she explains. “As the saying goes, if the countryside doesn't plant, the city doesn't eat. The experience of the Sustainable Cotton project is a successful melting pot of agroecological production, food security, cultural preservation, and a reminder of the importance of agrarian reform policies. We are talking about strengthening communities so that they can engage in dialogue with public authorities,” she concludes. To watch the four videos and see the complete guidelines, as well as the mini-documentary on the project's results, [link to video]. click here.
About ISPN
ISPN is a non-profit civil society organization headquartered in Brasília with an office in Santa Inês (MA), which has been working for over 30 years for development with social equity and environmental balance, through the strengthening of sustainable livelihoods and mitigation of climate change. Its main strategy is... PPP-ECOS Fund, an independent fund managed by ISPN, which raises and allocates resources to projects by community organizations of indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and family farmers working for environmental conservation. The Institute operates in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Caatinga biomes, in dialogue with local communities.