Old skills breathe new life

How one Brazilian community deep in the Amazon rainforest is learning to diversify in order to adapt to a fast-changing world - thanks to support from our partner CIMI-Tefe

Nestled deep in the Amazon rainforest, the village of Miratu is a 20-minute boat ride from the nearest town.

Around 40 families live in a clearing on the river, with some houses sheltered deep in the rainforest itself. Hunting and fishing supports their main source of income - the root vegetable cassava - which they grow to produce as flour to sell at market.

Declining food prices

It sounds like an idyllic existence but, in reality, villages such as this struggle to survive, relying too heavily on one crop to support them.

In Miratu, as more farmers produce cassava, the flour they produce floods the market and prices fall.

Families in Miratu are desperate to increase their income in order to make even the most basic improvements on their way of life.

Arigilda Ferreira, one member of the village, says: “I would like to improve my house, to have a cooker, a mattress, a bed, to put nets in the windows to stop the mosquitoes getting in at night.”

Malaria is a major health problem in Miratu. Because families cannot afford to put meshing on the windows, mosquitoes enter freely.

None of the families have mosquito nets to protect them while they are sleeping either, and cracks in the walls and floors provide easy access to all types of insects.

As a result, the risk of getting malaria is high - in May 2008 alone, there were 30 cases of malaria in Miratu.

Discovering new alternatives

CAFOD partner CIMI-Tefe is encouraging the village to develop alternative ways of making a living, such as beekeeping, weaving, and producing different crops such as Brazil nuts for export.

Beekeeper Antonio Birica Ribeiro says: “When we heard about this we thought it would be good because everybody is growing cassava, we needed to find something else. We were earning less and less.

“We hope it will bring us more income and that one day we will be able to sell the honey. We also eat it ourselves, it’s lovely.”

As trees are often cleared to grow crops, alternative livelihoods have the added bonus of also protecting the Amazon.

Marcia Marcario Ferriera, 24, lives with her husband and their seven-year-old daughter. She is being taught how to weave by her aunt, Maria, the oldest woman in the village.

Maria has been weaving since childhood, and is now passing on her skills to the younger generation, teaching them to make baskets, sieves, hats, and mats, as well as jewellery from seeds and coconut shells.

Marcia says: “It’s good for us to learn something useful. I make things and sell them when I get requests. I do requests now because I’m just learning and don’t feel confident about selling. I would like to sell things in the market.’

It is still early days, but the new way of life has been met with enthusiasm.

Marcia is particularly hopeful: “CIMI helps us a lot. I think the community will survive and we will all continue to live here.”