We are incredibly proud of the Black Jaguar Foundation’s Araguaia Seed Network. What started as a means of providing seeds for our project of ecological restoration is now making a real difference for communities living in the Araguaia region!
Last year, our field team started training sessions for communities living in settlements in the Araguaia region. They have visited many different settlements, providing training sessions and technical equipment, to incentivise individuals to become a part of our project. Each time they visit a community, they bring back new stories. So today, we thought to share some of these stories with you – starting with Mrs. Eunice and Mr. Pedro.
Mrs. Eunice and Mr. Pedro belong to a river community in the Araguaia region and grow casava in their plantation to produce mandioca flour. Nevertheless, as Ms. Eunice put it in the video above, she believes that:
“planting casava and Building plantations is not the future. For our future it would be better to plant and collect the seeds so we can reforest this whole world”.
She explains that producing casava flour takes a lot of work and does not generate as much income as collecting seeds does. Further, Eunice expresses a real desire to restore the ecosystems around her:
“For a long time, I have wanted to reforest and did not manage. But now with the support of these people – we will get there – together!”
We are very happy to have such dedicated individuals working with us to realize the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor. The Araguaia Seed Network’s goal is not just to purchase seeds and use them for planting – it is also to value and positively influence the lives of our community of seed collectors!
Collecting seeds is a continuous activity that forces people to interact with each other and with nature. Every encounter brings with it something new, and we are grateful for the opportunity to engage in these wonderful exchanges!
Expanding the list of seeds we purchase
The BJF team is currently working to expand the list of seeds we are purchasing for ecological restoration. We do this by speaking to our seed collectors, seeing which native seeds they can find most easily, and checking whether these are adaptable for flooded areas and other harsh conditions that categorize our restoration sites.
One of the new species that we have recently started collecting is Cafezinho. The picture below shows Dona Izabel e Dioclessio, two members of the Araguaia Seed Network who live in a settlement in Ipiracema, Caseara. They own a plot of land in the region where they grow casava and herd cattle and have been collecting seeds for five months. In their hands, you can see a bag of Cafezinho seeds! They explained to us that though collecting seeds can take up to a whole afternoon, it is worth it – for themselves and our planet.
We are incredibly proud of the community of seed collectors that has formed under the Araguaia Seed Network. A big round of applause for all their achievements so far! Have a look at one of these below – their graduation for our training sessions on seed collection, taught by BJF Seed production analyst Lais D’Ísep.
