FAO: 85.4% of farms in Amazonian municipalities are family farms

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) presented the publication Producing and conserving: the contributions of family farmers and Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon, which finds that production can support environmental conservation when it is based on systems adapted to local ecosystems, generates value within the territory, and recognizes local rights and knowledge.

The study highlights the role of Amazonian communities in advancing sustainable development. Family farming accounts for 85.4% of farms in Amazonian municipalities and manages 39.2% of the agricultural area. Indigenous territories, together with protected areas, cover nearly 50% of the subregion’s land area and contain approximately 58% of its carbon stocks.

Despite their contributions, these communities face significant social and territorial gaps. On average, the poverty rate in Amazonian municipalities is 48.8%, and 73% of the population cannot reach a major city within three hours of travel.

The publication also stresses the need to improve access to technical assistance and financial services. This is particularly important considering that, on average, only 12% of agricultural holdings have access to technical assistance, representing a gap of nearly 15 percentage points compared with other municipalities.

During a virtual event that brought together representatives of regional organizations, research institutions and Indigenous organizations, Luiz Beduschi, FAO Senior Policy Officer for Rural Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, presented the publication’s main findings and underscored the need to redirect policies and investments to expand access to technologies, financing and knowledge.

“The outcome we are seeking is not simply more production or a larger protected area, but territorial well-being. The Amazon does not need to choose between producing and conserving. It needs to invest in those who are already doing both well,” Beduschi said.

Vanessa Grazziotin, Executive Director of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), referred to the importance of regional cooperation and welcomed FAO’s support for the design of initiatives in the Amazon.

“I would like to highlight FAO as an important partner for ACTO in advancing work on bioeconomy and food security. We have received considerable support from the Organization and have participated in editions of the World Forum of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, which seeks partnerships and financing — one of the bottlenecks we face in the region when it comes to putting into practice what we already know,” she said.

From the research community, Roberto Porro, Deputy Head of Research and Development at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), noted that one of the key priorities is “to ensure that technological innovation is carried out through solutions adapted to local realities, that are low-cost and provide sustainable energy alternatives.”

Fany Kuiru, General Coordinator of the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA), emphasized that “when we talk about production, it is very important to incorporate our traditional perspective, which means knowing how to listen to nature. (...) We need to look at seasonal cycles and the ecological calendar. If this is not taken into account in this major bioeconomy opportunity for the Amazon, we will fail, because we will destroy the Amazon.”

Sociobiodiversity products and their transformative potential

The study recognizes that strengthening value chains for strategic Amazonian bioproducts, such as açaí, moriche palm fruit, Brazil nuts, cocoa beans and cupuaçu, can make a significant contribution to improving people’s incomes and well-being.

In this context, the bioeconomy emerges as a transformative model capable of combining traditional knowledge with technological innovation and generating economic growth without putting Amazonian biodiversity at risk. One example of this potential can be found in Brazil’s Legal Amazon, where 13 non-timber forest products generated USD 2 billion in value added in 2020.

This vision is also reflected in other FAO efforts in the Amazon. Among them is the work of FAO and ACTO on the Amazon Bioeconomy Investment Program, which, through geospatial analyses and models developed under the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, has identified investment opportunities adapted to the needs and characteristics of territories across the eight countries of the Amazon region.

In his closing reflections, Luiz Beduschi highlighted one of the main conclusions shared by the three panelists: the future of the Amazon fundamentally depends on the prosperity of the people who live there.