The settlement where two MST activists were murdered is a reference in agroecology

With the establishment of the Olga Benário settlement, based on the process of fighting for land, settled families transformed the landscape with dedication to agroecological production and the creation of agroforestry

The Olga Benário settlement, created in 2006, is home to more than 50 families of workers who practice diversified agriculture, working in the production of cassava, sugar cane, vegetables, livestock and food for the local market and for subsistence. Agroecological production is highlighted, especially through the implementation of Agroforestry Systems (SAFs) that integrate vegetables, native trees from the Atlantic Forest biome and practices such as collecting forest seeds and green manure.

In December of last year, through a joint effort carried out by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), almost all settled families were regulated.

The settlement, located in the municipality of Tremembé, has a strategic geographic location in the middle of the Serra da Mantiqueira, a place where real estate capital has shown interest in acquiring land for tourism purposes. This has been considered the central element that motivated the murder of Valdir Nascimento and Gleison Barbosa, settlers and activists of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in Olga Benário. The evidence is the harassment that real estate companies have been promoting in recent years, pressuring families to sell their lots and the constant threats of invasion by people and groups with no connection to family farming and agrarian reform, especially on lots still in the process of homologation.

Agroecology is the Way

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This speculation has pressured families that promote the social function of land, violating the prerogatives of the Federal Constitution related to Agrarian Reform. The group of settlers is dedicated to the production of healthy food and agroforestry is the way of organizing the productive space that engages families in the process of agroecological transition.

For Altamir Borges, from the MST State Directorate, who lives in the Paraíba Valley region, “I think, first of all, that by adopting agroecological practices here in the Valley, we have contributed to the transformation of human relations, mainly with the concept of cooperation and the methodology of the collective efforts. There are SAFs, for example, that were 100% implemented from the perspective of the collective in a cooperative manner. Another element is what these agroforests represent in terms of productivity, because almost all of the production of the lots comes from the agroforests, produced there within the system.” Our experience of more than 10 years has shown us that agroforestry is the best way to produce food, to have diversity, to work on human relations and to care for nature.”

The agroecological perspective is, therefore, the basis adopted by families to produce food and make use of the land.

Paraíba Valley Agroforestry Network

The Paraíba Valley Agroforestry Network, formed in 2011, is made up of a group of people who seek to advance the agroecological transition in the region through the implementation, management and research of Agroforestry Systems (SAF). It works with the perspective of popular participation to restore the Atlantic Forest landscape in the region by adopting the principles of agroecology. As a mobilization and action strategy, it organizes environmental recovery planting campaigns, in addition to promoting training cycles.

In addition to the settled families, the Paraíba Valley Agroforestry Network is made up of the Auá Institute, TNC, and WRI, which also provide funding for the development of actions in the region. As partial results, over these 14 years, more than 50 campaigns have been carried out and another 30 training courses have been completed, which reached a group of more than 1,000 farmers from 41 municipalities.

From the perspective of collective work, based on the principle of cooperation, the Vale do Paraíba Seed Collectors Network Cooperative (COOPERE) was created in 2019, developing a project focused on new relationships between humans and nature, with values ​​of the solidarity economy. The cooperative's work is focused on collecting seeds. In its six years of activity, it has collected and sold 1,581.385 kg of seeds, generating an income of more than R$180 thousand for the group of 75 collectors, who are divided into five territorial centers in 11 municipalities. 125 different species of seeds were collected.

Agroforestry to change the landscape and the lives of settled families

As can be seen in the satellite images, the role that agroforestry plays in environmental recovery is evident. As it is a production method and a form of land use based on the association of food with native species, agroforestry has been identified as an important tool for to face the climate crisis in food production and generate income for settled families.

Experiences such as those of the Olga Benário settlement and the Paraíba Valley can be multiplied with the political will of the federal and state governments to collect land to settle families of landless workers and expand public policies to stimulate the agroecological transition.

This is why the MST advocates that federal governments ensure that public lands are allocated for Agrarian Reform, as provided for in Article 158 of the Federal Constitution, reaffirming that land must fulfill its social function through the production of healthy food, conservation of common goods and decent work.