Minister of Social Development learns about sustainable production in Greater Belém
April Red Settlement, in Santa Bárbara, has recovered degraded areas and provides about 5 tons of food for the audience of COP 30
The Minister of Social Development Wellington Dias visited the April Red Settlement in the municipality of Santa Bárbara, in the Metropolitan Region of Belém, on Wednesday (19), accompanied by the Secretary of Family Agriculture of Pará, Cássio Pereira, and a technical delegation.
Wellington Dias learned about the sustainable productive practices maintained by the settled families, who produce about five tons of food to serve the audience of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 30) in the capital of Pará.
The minister emphasized that Brazil is the fourth largest food producer in the world and that family farmers are essential to ensure food on the tables of Brazilians. He stressed the need to support, especially, small producers who ensure the livelihood of families, along with the recovery and maintenance of the forest.
Climate, forest, and family protection
Cássio Pereira reinforced to the minister that family agriculture in Pará sets an example of how to produce and conserve the environment. The visited settlement, for example, has recovered extensive degraded areas, rivers, and lakes and today cultivates more than 50 varieties of plants in agroforestry systems, ensuring the livelihood of 414 families. “This is making a forest,” highlighted the state secretary about the results of the settlement.
“This here is climate financing. Here is an opportunity to combine forest conservation, ensure justice in the countryside, and produce food,” pointed out Cássio about family agriculture, which comprises about 300,000 workers throughout Pará and is responsible for 70% of the food for the people of Pará.
The delegation visited plantations, a fish farming experience, and a nursery under construction for seedling production by the settlers. A table displayed products such as flour, jams, sweets, honey, and other goods resulting from the activities of small farmers.
In conversation with the coordinators and workers, the minister presented projects and programs from the MDS that can reach this audience of rural workers with social policies from the Federal Government and reinforced the importance of partnership with the State Government to support the initiative.
“We know the way to go, but we also know the importance of the State to accelerate the processes,” said the state coordinator of the MST in Pará, Raimundo Nonato Filho, who is also responsible for coordinating the April Red Settlement.
