Cattle, buffalo, tambaqui, pirarucu [arapaima] and other species that live in the Amazon share more than habitat and economic importance for the region: they are part of traceability projects that aim to increase the quality of production, add value and promote the development of communities scattered throughout the biome. Whether by means of analysis of genetic material or by the mapping of the origin and processes that specific animal went through, technology also allows the reduction of forest deforestation rates and helps maintain sustainability.

These are important steps towards a production system that does not cause so much damage to the environment and continues to guarantee income for Amazonian families – since a large part of these activities are identified in studies as the causes of serious problems in the biome. According to the Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia (Imazon) [Amazon Institute of Man and Environment], for example, livestock farming occupies more than 80% of deforested areas in the Amazon and could still lead to the deforestation of more than 3 million hectares by 2025. Traceability is defended by the entity as an effective measure and a way of stopping damage.

On the economic side, the initiative comes as a sigh of relief for communities that rely on fishing as a source of resources. Fish are part of the species in the region that have commercial value and can generate both profit and production leveraged. According to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), tambaqui, alone, had in 2020 more than 100.5 tons produced, an amount that generated R$782.6 million for the country's economy. In this context, pirarucu is also highlighted: it is among the top ten species in the Amazon economy.

Genetics

Traceability through genetic mapping of these animals is a viable option for fish farming. Research led by the Faculty of Biology at the Federal Rural University of the Amazon (UFRA), coordinated by genetics professor Igor Hamoy, developed reliable molecular markers for tambaqui and pirarucu. The proposal is based on the principle of organizing a database so that these fish can be tracked: a breeding pair is chipped and the offsprings have their material analyzed – this way, it is possible to know the origin of each one, whether or not they were reproduced in captivity.

The initiative is efficient in overcoming bottlenecks that are still frequent in the Amazon: illegal fishing during the closed season, when the activity is prohibited. “Some supermarkets may sell during this period, but who can guarantee that the origin of the animal is fish farming?” asks Hamoy. “If there was a database of these animals, I could test and say that the fish really came from fish farming, because their parents are in the system, carrying out genetic traceability. This protects the species and benefits the good producer or good fisherman. Anyone who respects the closed season, or the producer who uses our technology, benefits”, he adds.

Monitoring targets foreign markets

The traceability of Amazonian animals, in the project, starting with tambaqui and pirarucu, has the potential to attract the external market, once there is proof that they are not the result of predatory fishing. “Every time we have technology that validates and tracks animals in captivity, it is beneficial, because it values fish farming and the animal in captivity, showing that it is being tracked. And that's what the foreign market wants: to reduce the pressure on natural animals. The more you create, the less you fish, helping with conservation and promoting the bioeconomy”, highlights professor Igor Hamoy.

Improvement

Fish traceability by way of gene mapping can take production to a new level: genetic improvement. Igor Hamoy explains that this scenario avoids endogamy, that is, the relationship between animals and their families. “The same technology that tracks animals allows genetic improvement to begin. This way, the fish farmer can select animals with better performance. The technology makes it possible to identify the [historical] pedigree of fish families on a farm and prevent inbreeding. By doing this, genetic improvement may begin.”

Technology invests in the pirarucu production chain

Fish traceability is beneficial to the diverse communities that depend on fishing economy. In addition to having technology available, work developed by the Fundação Amazônia Sustentável (FAS) [Sustainable Amazon Foundation] promotes innovation and market intelligence in the pirarucu production chain for residents of the municipalities of Fonte Boa, Mangueira, Catete and Jussara, in the state of Amazonas, further away 1,500 kilometers from the capital, Manaus. The idea arose from the need to value the producer, who only keeps 15% of the profits from sales – the rest goes to the cold stores and middlemen.

Valcléia Solidade, superintendent of Sustainable Development of Communities at FAS, highlights that technology is essential for the buyer to know not only the paths the product has taken, but the entire socio-environmental context that exists in the fish production chain. For this purpose, the implementation of traceability involves a series of steps so that it is possible to understand the greatest demands of producing communities. “Through this, we will be able to track. We are going to develop a digital platform that will bring a series of information”, points out Valcléia.

“We will do digital business intelligence management to find out the number of stakeholders and business partners and to have transparency on customer satisfaction,” adds the superintendent. “Whoever will consume the product know all the concepts behind it. We want to generate a positive impact on this chain and make this a distinguishing feature. The strategy consists in understanding the various activities they develop and how we can apply technology, what skills they have and which ones we can improve. The diagnosis does this,” she emphasizes.

Management

The work of tracking fish, through the system that FAS is creating, will be done in conjunction with the management of pirarucus. The practice has been used by communities for almost 15 years and is considered by the institution as an example of harmony between humankind and the environment. “Management is the way you do it so that the species can be there, increase production and take some parts of it. This can be important, first, for our food security, but also to generate income, strengthen the territory and make it more and more sustainable”, says Valcléia.

Benefits

In total, the initiative aims to implement the technology, still in the development phase, for 56 pirarucu farmers in the Amazon. Dalvino Gomes, 52, is one of them. A resident of the Mangueira community, he says that his main source of income is fish management. For him, traceability is the hope for better conditions. “The project will help us a lot. It’s a dream, because we work with a food product and we need the traceability seal, which comes with a pre-processing of the fish. It will add value to our product”, he celebrates.

Traceability of cattle and buffalo in Pará to combat deforestation

Pará, one of the main states in the Amazon, holds the second largest cattle herd in Brazil: 26 million head of cattle. However, this quantity is reflected in the environmental damage caused by the activity - livestock farming is one of the main causes of deforestation in the region. The solution may lie in traceability, which began as a health issue - 100% of the animals are monitored for foot-and-mouth disease - and it has advanced to sustainable gains. A public policy for better control of these animals is currently being developed.

Daniel Freire, president of the Sindicato da Indústria de Carnes e Derivados do Estado do Pará (Sindicarne) [Meat and By-Products Industry Union of the State of Pará], explains that the sector's actions to mitigate the problems are not recent and are constantly evolving. "As of 2009, we began to track all cattle that go to slaughter in terms of socio-environmental aspects. The State included the Rural Environmental Registry [CAR] to the Animal Transit Guide [GTA]. In the CAR you can find the geographic coordinates of the farm and, with this, we can perform an image analysis of that property, to see if there has been deforestation…”, he explains.

Expansion

Freire says that the industry already analyzes whether the cattle sold come from deforested areas - sales are prohibited in the case of herds with irregularities - but the idea is to expand this control process to producers. “The challenge is to ensure that not only cattle from Pará can be audited, but that producers who buy animals from their neighbors, for example, know whether there is a socio-environmental problem. To this end, Pará is trying to develop a system, which is unique in the world, for the traceability of extensive cattle,” he ponders.

Investment in Pará will exceed R$400 million

The public policy for implementing cattle and buffalo traceability in Pará is in its final stages of development. Jamir Macedo, general director of the Agência de Defesa Agropecuária do Estado do Pará (Adepará) [Pará State Agricultural Defense Agency], estimates that the investment in the measure will amount to approximately R$400 million - the cost of acquiring animal identification, the software that will be used for tracking, and the transportation of the staff to the production sites to collect data. The expectation is that the work will begin in the second half of 2024 and will follow a schedule so that all cattle will be identified by the end of 2026.

“We talk a lot about traceability for environmental purposes, but initially, it is a public policy for agricultural health. The state government added an extra: it instituted a program so that other environmental, land, access to credit, etc. modalities could be included and have more benefits. The program is this great package,” says Macedo. With traceability in operation, Adepará also hopes to reach more demanding foreign markets. “This will result in higher pricing and a greater need to increase demand,” he adds.