Antônia Oliveira lives in Carlinda, Mato Grosso, in a settlement called PDS (Sustainable Development Project). Her career in seed collection is directly linked to the agrarian reform.
She is part of a group of five families who collect forest and agricultural seeds. Each family maintains their own production and collection areas within their family units.
“I picked up a lot, a lot of affection, a lot of love for collecting seeds. The cultivation of various types of forest seeds is fundamental to understanding that they are crucial for the process of restoring areas and also for human consumption in agricultural matters,” she explains.
Antônia, along with a group of more than 46 families, helped build the settlement project following a sustainable production model in an area designated for land reform. With a commitment to protecting the forest, they only set aside areas that were already open for cultivation, preserving a collective reserve that today totals more than 1,500 hectares.
“It’s not just a question of income, but also of learning. The experience of collecting seeds for the purpose of reforesting new areas teaches us how essential this practice is for the recovery and preservation of the environment.”
One of the group’s main concerns is to ensure that collecting seeds doesn’t harm the ecosystem. To do this, they control the quantity of seeds taken for sale, ensuring that there is always enough to feed the fauna and allow the trees to regenerate.
However, she reports that the expansion of corn and soybean crops in the region has brought challenges, such as the loss of matrices and trees cultivated by the settlers. The group has been looking for ways to adapt to this new reality.
Antônia comments that the commercialization of seeds, the creation of new collection areas and even aerial spraying are problems they face on a daily basis.
“Land, when preserved and cultivated collectively, is an act of resistance. It is through it and the protection of nature that rural workers achieve their goals and make their dreams come true,” she said.