Family farmers from the Jonas Pinheiro Settlement, in Sorriso, took part in joint efforts to exchange information and technical guidance on ways of growing more sustainable crops and adding value to their production. The action is part of the Cultivating Sustainable Life Project, developed by CAT Sorriso and co-financed by IDH.
In four joint efforts, 30 farmers have already welcomed the team responsible for the project, which has been strengthened through partnerships with the Sorriso City Hall, Viveiro Sorriso, the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Centro Mato-grossense Faculty (FACEM), and the State Technical School of Professional and Technological Education of Sinop-Secitec.
“The Project principle is to build lasting partnerships. This is very important to aggregate and support the farmers, who need assistance and mechanisms for sustainable, solid development and valorization”, explains CAT’s president, Dudy Paiva.
The knowledge imparted was very comprehensive and enabled a systemic understanding of how a rural property works, from cleaning, studying, preparing, and fertilizing the soil, managing the field, installing irrigation and planting, favoring the use of natural techniques as an alternative to agrochemicals.
According to CAT Sorriso, the farmers who followed the guidelines in managing the areas had excellent results in their food harvest.
Sorriso PCI Compact
The support provided to family farmers by the Cultivating a Sustainable Life Project also contributes to the achievement of the Inclusion goals set out in the Sorriso PCI Compact, creating a partnership and collaboration environment among the signatories to solve complex issues, such as environmental and land regularisation and access to credit.
The creation of the Rural Family Microcredit Programme in April this year is an example of the result of this partnership in the PCI Compact. The Guarantee Fund allocates around BRL 1 million, with the potential to benefit up to 300 family farmers by providing guarantees for micro-credit operations with commercial banks and credit cooperatives. Loan amounts can vary from BRL 15 to 30 thousand per family with more reasonable interest rates. (learn more here)
“The landscape development strategy delivers concrete results that benefit everyone, including small-scale farmers. We understand the challenges, but we believe that the commitment of local partners makes the difference in achieving the proposed goals”, says Daniela Mariuzzo, executive director of IDH in Brazil.
Another partnership between IDH, CAT, and the City Hall is the analysis of the environmental and land regularization situation at the Jonas Pinheiro Settlement to determine the required actions for a solution.