Agroforestry Systems for the conservation of Brazil Southern Atlantic Forest - linked to SDG´s 2 and 15

#SDGAction42815

Description

Intro

Since 2000 Embrapa is development agroforestry practices to restore Atlantic Forest. One model is based on planting of timber species to shade Ilex paraguariensis (mate) intercropped with food species. This work is carried out at the Experimental Farm of Embrapa, in Santa Catarina, and at family farms in Rio Grande do Sul. Another model is applied to the restoration of araucaria forest degraded by the selective extraction of wood. This model is conducted in the Embrapa and in properties of family farmers in Paraná and Santa Catarina. In this model degraded forest is replacement by natural regeneration of native species.

Objective of the practice

In the region of the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (FOM), most of the remnants of araucaria forests are in private properties, especially those belonging to family agriculture. Despite the advance of monoculture areas, mainly for the cultivation of tobacco, soybean and pine, in most of the family farms, araucaria forests have been managed in the last decades for the extraction of mate that, besides the economic aspect, has as main conservation of these remnants. This extractive activity is called by the family farmers as "Traditional Systems or Agroecological systems of mate production", because they respect the ecological process conciliating the production and the forest conservation. Also it maintains the traditional knowledge on use of the forests. The Agroforestry Systems practices development by Embrapa researchers are based on use of native species of Araucaria Forest in particular Ilex paraguariensis which have a cultural and a socioeconomic importance for family farmers of southern Brazil. The main objective of these practices is improvement these traditional systems, increasing the supply of food, medicinal plants and timber, either for self-consumption or for incomes, meeting the SDG 2. Another objective is to ensure the conservation of biodiversity, soil and water in the region of occurrence of the araucaria ecosystem meeting SDG 15. The main challenge is being to convince the environmental bodies of the feasibility of these traditional systems. In order to do this, there are two research fronts to generate data on the impacts of this traditional forest management – family farmers have been monitored for nine years and research areas have been implemented and are being monitored for six years. It is hoped that with the results obtained it will be possible to demonstrate the economic, social and environmental viability of these systems, helping to build public policies that value families and their traditional production systems.The main difficulty of these actions is the availability of financial resources for the field activities mainly for the monitoring of research areas. Partnerships with private institutions have provided part of these needs mainly in relation to the maintenance of the experimental areas located in Caçador. Other partnerships have promoted field days and technical meetings for technicians and farmers appropriate the results obtained so far.

Partners

The main beneficiaries are family farmers who have the extraction of mate their main source of income. The main partner of this proposal is the organization that represents the family farmers in Brazil - the Federation of the Workers in Family Agriculture. The main function of this partnership is the organization of farmers' families to select properties for research and technical meetings. Another partners are - Agronomic Institute of Paraná, EPAGRI, Ponta Grossa University, EMATER-RS and APROMATE. In addition to the Embrapa resources, other major donors are TNC and Wilfried Laurier University through the FLEdGE (Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged).

Implementation of the Project/Activity

The researches with agroforestry systems for the production of mate began in 2000 in the municipality of Machadinho, Rio Grande do Sul. In this State the areas of native mate were eradicated and replaced in the 60s by plantations in full sun. Called "Cambona 4 Mate Agroforestry System" this model consists of the planting of a mate cultivar “Cambona 4” developed by a partnership between Machadinho farmer and Embrapa Florestas, integrated with other agricultural crops and with the presence of shade tree species. The purpose is to reproduce the natural environment originating from mate, increasing the environmental, cultural, social and economic gains in the system. In the experimental area of Embrapa, the research activities began in 2011 with resources from the National Research Council, linked to Brazil Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as the TNC. Two models of agroforestry systems were implanted on this occasion: 1) plantations of timber species A. angustifolia and M. scabrella intercalated in different spacings with non-woody food species like I. paraguariensis, Acca selowiana (feijoa), Psidium cattleianum (yellow cattley guava) and Schinus terebinthifolius (pink pepper) and annual crops such as soybeans and ryegrass, 2) restoration of forest altered by the selective cutting of wood, through the suppression of native bamboo, conduction of the natural regeneration of M. scabrella and other native species, and planting of mate. The monitoring of all these areas has taken place through soil chemical and biological analyzes, including soil C, incidental radiation evaluations, mate and fruits productivity, and economic analyzes. From 2013, with resources from Embrapa, the research was extended to traditional mate production systems in the family farms of the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. For this research are being used participatory research methods, as well as the monitoring of research conducted by the farmers themselves. In the properties were installed plots in the areas with the traditional systems of production of mate to monitor the chemical and biological characteristics of the soil, the productivity and quality of mate, and monitoring the floristic diversity in function of the forest management adopted by the farmers. In 2019, economic analyzes of these traditional production systems will also be carried out.

Results/Outputs/Impacts

In relation to the models implanted in Caçador, the partial results of six years of follow - up show good growth rates for the species A. angustifolia and M. scabrella, demonstrating the viability of the cultivation of these species by the farmers. For the latter, after six years of planting, two thinnings have been made with wood production, and the income can be used for the planting of mate between the lines of M. scabrella. Another result obtained is the occurrence of natural regeneration of several native species in the planting lines of M. scabrella demonstrating the restoration potential of this leguminous species. For the second model based on restoration of degraded forest the results show that the shade generated by the regeneration of bracatinga has controlled the regrowth of native bamboo and allowed the regeneration of native species such as Cedrela fissilis and Ocotea porosa, two important wood species, besides allowing the development of the mate cultived. In these areas, several field days have already been carried out to demonstrate the agroforestry systems implemented and discuss their technical, economic and environmental viability. In traditional mate production systems the initial results show that the management adopted by farmers can maintain the same floristic diversity when comparing areas with and without management. Much of these areas originated from altered forests with a predominance of native bamboo and the management of the farmers, based in the constant brushing of bamboo and its consequent elimination, allowed the regeneration of the forest to mate cultive. It is important to mention that these family farmers represent about 90% of the mate producers of the southern region of Brazil and they represent the public that will can adopt one or other model of agroforestry system for mate production. For example, the shade design of the mate in Machadinho covers 95 rural families in associative organization and an area of 160 hectares cultivated, with the production of industrialized mate for the internal and external market. The results also demonstrate that the production of mate was not altered by the presence of the trees, however new monitoring is being carried out to evaluate changes in the soil and the quality of mate produced in this system.

Enabling factors and constraints

From the point of view of the three southern states of Brazil and the forest ecosystem with Araucaria, mate is undoubtedly the species with the greatest historical, economic, environmental and social relevance, both for the productive sector of family agriculture and for the other industrial and commercial sectors of the region. This is a enabling conditions that helped the practice to succeed.
The species was one of the main export products of Brazil during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From 1830 to 1930 there was the "mate cycle", specifically in the Paraná and Santa Catarina states, where mate was the main product of the economy. Although most of the mate produced is in full sun, official data reveal that the extractive of shaded mate, which is concentrated in the Southern Brazil, generated in 2017 a production value of US$ 113 million, growth of 6.4% over the previous year. Despite all the socioenvironmental importance and strong historical and cultural appeal, technical assistance and research still tend to work on mate management, basing itself on the principles of "modernization of agriculture". The mate was removed from the forest environment for full sun planting systems, usually monoculture, using fertilizers and often even with agrochemicals not recommended for cultivation. On the other hand, native mate, considered as an extractive activity (from the negative point of view) remains on the fringes of technical assistance, research and support programs. However, through recent interinstitutional actions and also because of society's strong calls for production with fewer impacts on the environment, research and extension institutions have turned to more sustainable mate production systems. An example of this mobilization is the realization of the Seminars on Traditional and Agroecological systems of mate, carried out in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018, with the participation of students, farmers and technicians. Recent research on agroforestry systems with mate has been presented at these meetings and discussed improvements for the maintenance of the traditional agroecological production systems developed by family farmers. Official and non-governmental financial support, such as the TNC, has also made it possible to hold field days for the promotion of agroforestry practices for the production of mate. The diffusion of these practices contributed with a new thought about the production of mate and other native species, mainly of the environmental organs that control the exploitation of native forests. The main objective of this work is to demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile production with the conservation of native forests.

Sustainability and replicability

The current number of farms that produces mate is 19,000. About 11,000 already produce mate in traditional production systems that could be improved through the introduction of agroforestry practices developed by Embrapa and partners. The promotion of new field days and courses on developed agroforestry models and practices is one of the main actions to achieve this goal. It is important to note that products derived from native or shaded mate have a higher market value than mate produced in full sun. This is mainly due to the acceptance by the chimarrão palate (one of the main products of mate) of shaded mate. The amount paid per kg of shaded mate can reach US$ 1,00 more than that paid for full sun mate. This is a factor that can contribute to the adoption of the agroforestry practices developed by Embrapa.This fact, reinforced by an increasing demand for agroecological foods and by the recent preoccupation with the conservation of forest remnants, has more recently made the production and management of native mate more important, with the possibility of governmental support such as: the "National Plan for the Promotion of Socio-Biodiversity Product Chains" created to support the production of mate and even to establish a minimum price; the installation of a Geographical Identification (GI) process of mate to enhance traditional production; the possibility of the activity being included in payment policies for Environmental Services; and also the possibility of inclusion in projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. However, agroforestry practices initially have a high labor cost. Preliminary financial analysis carried out on the models deployed in Caçador shows that the return occurs from the eighth year of implantation. From the monitoring of the production of early species such as Psidium cattleianum and Schinus terebenthifolius this time is expected to decrease. Another action to encouraging the adoption of the practices was the criation of the “Center for Education and Development of Traditional Mate Systems – CEDErva” – which is a collaborative network of people who are interested in traditional mate production and development systems. This network is made up of small rural producers from Paraná and Santa Catarina, family agriculture unions, municipal, state and federal institutions, as well as researchers from different areas of knowledge, from the natural sciences to the humanities, representatives of universities and scientific institutions. The objective of this site is also to reach the urban public, raising awareness of the historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic importance of this endemic species of southern Brazil.

Conclusions

One of the main conclusions of the work developed by Embrapa Forests is the need to approach and dialogue with the family farmers who for decades have managed the forests to extract the mate. The information that has been collected from this public about its history and traditional agroforestry practices has helped in the understanding of more or less important species and in its ecological role for the production of mate. In this sense, the research can be directed to the real needs of the farmers, both from the productive and environmental point of view. Another important conclusion is that this work goes beyond field practices for the restoration of forests and cultivation of mate. It brings together and shares information on traditional ways of life and develops networks to support local communities in sharing knowledge about food and cultural heritage, developing sustainable practices that ensure the continuity of traditional food acquisition systems, supporting the maintenance of natural ecosystems. In this regard, the approach to new partners, particularly in the area of human sciences, has given a new focus to the work, which will have a strong repercussion on the adoption of the practices developed. This fact is justified by the understanding of the real needs of the farmers and the logic that drives them to meet their life goals.

Other sources of information

In below sites it is possible to follow some of the activities developed on agroforestry systems of mate in the southern region of Brazil. The sites bring information about the network of partners, with news of activities developed on agroforestry systems, photos of field activities, published works, history and curiosities about mate
http://www.cederva.com
http://www.cederva.com/pesquisa.html
https://fledgeresearch.ca/2018/07/30/food-systems-are-critical-to-urban…
https://www.ruaf.org/%E2%80%9C-order-be-someone-i-have-leave-farm%E2%80…
https://ainfo.cnptia.embrapa.br/digital/bitstream/item/35455/1/Producao…

SDGS & Targets

Goal 15

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss