The couple Vanessa Moreira and Alessandro Tenório received an invaluable inheritance from their parents: the knowledge to carry on with efficient production that values and protects the property’s natural resources.
Family farmers from Tomé-Açú, in Pará, have invested in the SAF (Agroforestry System) to generate income in a sustainable way. The model combines agriculture with forest species, providing a greater diversity of products and maintaining the soil’s nutrients.
Vanessa’s father got to know the SAF when he worked with Japanese immigrants who arrived in the region, and her daughter continued after buying her own land with her husband. The decision to maintain the production model was influenced by the effects of climate change.
“In the past we used to plant large areas. Today we focus on productivity. The shade from the trees and the lower temperatures help us to work in the fields,” she explains.
The property produces black pepper, açaí, cocoa and babassu coconut, in conjunction with the so-called “forest essences”, tree species such as pequiá, ipê, acapu, andiroba, bacuri and jatobá.
The couple also have areas in the process of regeneration with the support of projects from IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute). “As well as being very rewarding to work together with the environment, we know that we need it to produce. That’s why we have to conserve as much as possible and degrade nature less,” says Vanessa.
Through initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture and agroforestry, the Institute has already supported more than 400 farming families in Pará, resulting in 800 hectares restored in the state.