Land inequality is a serious issue in Brazil. A recent report by Oxfam noted that nearly 45% of Brazil’s agricultural land is owned by a mere 1% of tenants. Against this background a group called the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) has been fighting for the implementation of agrarian reform since the 80s. Occupations are one of the strategies by which it presses the government to take action, as the Brazilian constitution provides a legal framework to seize lands that are not fulfilling a productive or social use, or when environmental crimes have been committed.
Agroforestry is an innovative new management system on their lands. Although there is no single recipe for agroforestry, common practices include periodically pruning the trees and using their branches and leaves to cover the soil, as well as combining crops to allow synergies between species. Nelson Correa, who was one of the pioneers of agroforestry in Mario Lago, defines it as a way of incorporating food production into the processes of nature. “In agroforestry we work to regenerate the environment,” he explains. “Productivity is a consequence of that regeneration.” In a forest, when a tree falls, it opens a clearing and an infinity of life forms follow. But while in nature this only occurs every now and then, in agroforestry we make it happen more often. We have studies that show that this pulse in the clearings, this falling and growing, is much better in terms of climate, soil and water.
"In Brazil, our fields are completely devoid of nature. They’re controlled by agribusiness, which has a philosophy of dominating nature. We need to take nature back into our fields,” Correa says.
Agroforestry is an innovative new management system on their lands. Although there is no single recipe for agroforestry, common practices include periodically pruning the trees and using their branches and leaves to cover the soil, as well as combining crops to allow synergies between species. Nelson Correa, who was one of the pioneers of agroforestry in Mario Lago, defines it as a way of incorporating food production into the processes of nature. “In agroforestry we work to regenerate the environment,” he explains. “Productivity is a consequence of that regeneration.” In a forest, when a tree falls, it opens a clearing and an infinity of life forms follow. But while in nature this only occurs every now and then, in agroforestry we make it happen more often. We have studies that show that this pulse in the clearings, this falling and growing, is much better in terms of climate, soil and water.
"In Brazil, our fields are completely devoid of nature. They’re controlled by agribusiness, which has a philosophy of dominating nature. We need to take nature back into our fields,” Correa says.
A farmer who converted to agroforestry is José Ferreira, known as Paraguai. “I used to think of the MST as a bunch of rioters,” Paraguai confesses. “But the movement provided us with a great knowledge of the world. To me that’s its most important legacy. Besides their fight for the land, planting and taking care of nature, they have a strong social side.” With agroforestry, Paraguai says that in a single week he can collect parsley, chives, tomato, chicory, lettuce, rocket, cabbage, broccoli and leek. “He who understands the processes of agroforestry doesn’t go back to conventional farming.”
Some experts argue that promoting agroforestal systems over cattle pastures in the Amazon could favour a more sustainable use of the land, curbing deforestation and providing shelter for tropical biodiversity. Agroforestry could also be an interesting farming alternative for those living in Brazil’s semi-arid north-east and other areas threatened by desertification, where it could help to restore poor and degraded soils.
Miguel’s family and 263 others were each given a plot of 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres). But the agreement included conditions that would radically transform the land and the way the farmers worked with it: the farmers would need to reforest 20% of the area with native trees, and 15% would be devoted to agroforestry – the integration of trees and shrubs with crops and livestock systems – and worked collectively. In time, Mario Lago would become an agroforestry showcase. Miguel has fulfilled his dream. Twelve years after joining the camp and 10 after he got his land, he finished building a house – and his wife and two sons finally moved in. He says the MST and agroforestry have changed his life.
“I used to be very consumerist; now financial issues are the least important to me. What I like now is to be among people, talk to them, spread this knowledge … to change the world.”
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