Photos: Newcomer farmers in Brazil embrace bees, agroforestry and find success

[Judi Lynn]

by Inaê Guion on 2 December 2022

PARAÍBA VALLEY, Brazil — Under the frigid morning air of the Mantiqueira Mountains in southeastern Brazil, honeybees begin leaving the hive.

“When day brakes they are calmer,” says Mara Galvão, a smallholder farmer and beekeeper who is part of the rural agrarian reform settlement Nova Esperança in the Paraíba Valley.




Beekeepers Mara, Ana, Cristiane and Yessica manage a box of bees that survived the fires that affected the region during the dry season of 2020. Part of Ana’s plot was consumed by the fire, but the hives resisted. Sítio LaCuna, Egídio Brunetto Agroecological Settlement, Lagoinha, Paraíba Valley, Brazil. Image by Inaê Guion.



Nestled between mountains connecting the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, Paraíba Valley is home to half a dozen of the more than 500 agrarian reform settlements of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) spread across Brazil. One of the largest social movements in the world, MST has generated controversy among politicians and public opinion for its ideological structure inspired by Marxism and methods promoting land occupations.

The movement seeks to help landless families occupy, settle and farm throughout the country based on Brazil’s 1988 Constitutional promise that land should “serve a social purpose.” In the South American nation, persistent land inequality has further spurred the movement — about 10% of the largest farms occupy nearly three-quarters of agricultural land. The movement embraces food sovereignty and environmentalism.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/photos-newcomer-farmers-in-brazil-embrace-bees-agroforestry-and-find-success/

[cilla4progress]

1. So encouraging!

Thanks!