ResilienceandAgriculturalSystemsinBrazil– aPilotProject

CentroEcológico/SSNCMay,2015

Objectives• Developandtestamethodologytoassesstheresilienceofagriculturalsystems

• Todemonstratethepotentialofagriculturalsystemsinadaptingtoacontextofclimateuncertainties

• ToassessthepotentialofagriculturalsystemsinmitigatingtheeffectsofGHG

• Toassessthepotentialofagriculturalsystemsinprotectingbiodiversity

Whatwehave so far...• Centro Ecológico: 15 farms with permanent plots(samples) assessing carbon and biodiversity; a number ofdissertations and other reports; local support; etc.; and

• Centro Sabiá (Northeast): a current project related withclimate change where we will assess15 cases; manyfarmers` organizations ; two influential NGOs; semi-aridregionwhich is very vulnerable to climate change effects

Sitelocation

Methodology/current studies

• Centroecológico:12farmswithpermanentplotsassessingcarbonandbiodiversity;anumberofcommercializationinitiatives;socialorganizations;and

• CentroSabiá:15farmswithplotsassessingcarbonandbiodiversity;detailedquestionnaire.

Centroecológico

CentroSabiá

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/SabiáSocialdimension1. How is the history of your property (how and when you

purchased / won, how it was like and what changes youhavemade)?

2. How was the impact of the last drought (period between2011 and 2014)

3. Does the family participates in organizational spaces such astrade unions, cooperatives, associations, groups, councils,networks of articulation, etc..?Which ones?

4. In the opinions of the family such participation helps toimprove the property? Examples: joint marketing processes,access and demands for public policies, achievement ofstrategic areas,etc..

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/Sabiá5. Does family members participate in the construction of

knowledge such as technical advice, courses, exchangevisits, field days, research, etc. activities.? What are thebenefits and advancements associatedwith these activities?

6. How is the division of labor in the property? Who isinvolved? How is the participation of women in decisionmaking?

7. Do you hire outside labor? Is it paid or it is undercollaborativeeffort?At what time of year?

8. How do you evaluate the question of continuity / successionon the property?

9. Does the family, community or association of which you takepart has received some recognition for the work with theAFS?

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/SabiáProductiveandenvironmentaldimension10. Which strategies the family uses for longer periods of

drought to ensure income, food and propertymaintenance?11. Which are the sources of water that the family has in the

property?What is the storage capacity?12. There are initiatives to maintain and / or restore the water

springs?Which ones?13. Is there sufficient forage production and storage

technologies to meet the demand during the most criticalperiods?

14. What are the flows of inputs and interdependencies in theproperty and among the neighbors? Can you make a map ofthese flows?

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/Sabiá15. What degree of autonomy in the production of inputs?

What is produced andwhat is acquired outside the farm?16. Does the family develops initiatives to control and

destination of garbageand sewage?17. Does the family adopts eco-technologies for using

renewable energies (eco-stove, biodigestor, etc.) andsanitation (bio-water,dry sump, etc.)? Which ones?

18. What are the property characteristics (size, altitude, soil,vegetation, rainfall)?

19. What are the size and age of your AFS?20. How was the process of land reclamation using AFS (litter,

soil color, organic matter, indicator plants, etc..)? (mayinclude chromatographydata if you have)

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/Sabiá

21. Do you have legal reserve in the property? Are permanentprotection areas preserved?

22. Does the family has a habit of producing, collecting andstoring seeds and propagatingmaterial for plantations?

23. Which plant species and varieties (fruit, grains, native,fodder,honey, etc..) and animals exist on the property?

24. What is the AFS production (species and quantities), and thework involved during the year? Are there any use of inputsAFS? Which and howmuch?

25. Among these species which resisted better to longer periodsof drought?

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/SabiáEconomicdimension26. Which marketing strategies the family adopts? Fairs?

Community sales? Government programs (EAP and PNAE)?Intermediaries?Sales to restaurants and cafeterias?What?

27. Performs exchanges as a mean of generating income for thefamily?

28. Does the family adopts strategies for processing of productssuch as flour production, dairy and sugar, fruit pulp, meat,etc..?

29. Overall food produced in the property, what amount isintended for self-consumption? It is possible to quantify thetypes of foods that are intended for family consumption?

Questionnaire– Resilienceindicators/Sabiá

• Indicator• Carbon sequestration• Number of trees• Number of species• Number of families• Shannon-Weaver (H`) index• Number of marketing strategies• Number of organizational structures • Capacity of water storage• Income• Food production• Ecosystems Protection and the Maintenance of Biodiversity• Rate of recovery from extreme environmental and climate change-related stresses

and shocks• Diversity of local food system• Innovation in agricultural biodiversity management for improved resilience and

sustainability• Access and exchange of agricultural biodiversity• Autonomy in relation to land and resource management• Social infrastructure

Preliminaryfindings

• Agroforestry systems can sequester up to 60 tons/haof CO2eq in a period of 12 years for productionsystems located in the Atlantic Forest region, while inthe semiarid region some of the systems can store upto 40 tons/ha of CO2 eq in the biomass for the sameperiod;

• As expected plant diversity is considerably higher inthe agroforestry systems, when compared withconventional production. Some of the systems have asignificant number of endemic species;

Preliminaryfindings

• Most of the farmers in both regions have differentmarketing strategies for their products, suggesting away to guarantee economic resilience;

• It was also found that most of the families participatein a number of organizational structures such asproducers’ cooperatives, associations, unions,church councils, and political parties among others;

Preliminaryfindings

• In both regions most of the farmers have beenfavoured by recent public policies to promote familyfarming, such as the Program of Food Acquisition(PAA – Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos) andthe National Program for School Food (PNAE –Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar); and

• Specifically in the semiarid region farmers havebeen adopting a number of strategies to store watersuch as cisterns, tanks, and small dams.

Researchquestions

üHow can we infer that these agroforestry systemsare more resilient, compared with traditional land-use systems in both regions?

üAre the agroforestry systems in the semiarid region(Caatinga) playing a role in combatingdesertification?

üWhat is the role of public policies in promotingresilient agricultural systems;

ü How can we simplify the methodology?

üIf we find that these systems are more resilient, sowhat?

Somepreliminaryanalysis