Agriculture is vital to humanity and its economic power is not limited to the supply of food: its activities include the management of raw materials for various products, such as textiles, medicines, cosmetics, paper and biofuels. Thus, there is a lot of concern about the impacts that an activity causes, depending on the practices adopted. In the Amazon, this attention is doubled and is gaining importance among agents linked to various productive sectors and communities: the effects on the environment call for care and efforts to minimize results that can range from air, soil and water pollution to deforestation, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and high-water consumption - the economic activity that consumes the most water on the planet.

For this reason, one of the major challenges facing the agricultural sector is to continue supplying the population with food and other agricultural products, while at the same time reducing the environmental impacts caused.  The so-called Sustainable agriculture is the one that respects the environment and is socially responsible and economically viable.

In Pará, researchers from the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária da Amazônia Oriental (Embrapa Amazônia Oriental) [Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation of the Eastern Amazon] have developed simple and economical technologies for more sustainable agricultural practices, bringing this knowledge to small rural producers in the state. In three different initiatives, the techniques involve rainwater supervision, planning with less deforestation and management of the production area with biodiversity conservation.

Irrigapote

Developed by Embrapa agrometeorologist Lucieta Martorano and researchers from the Rede de Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia da Amazônia Legal (Bionorte) [Biodiversity and Biotechnology Network of the Legal Amazon], the "irrigapote" technology allows plantations to reuse rainwater. The system involves collecting rainwater through gutters installed on the roofs of producers' houses, storing it in water tanks and draining it through pipes that direct it into low-cost clay pots that are buried in the ground.

The system is an accessible security method that benefits farmers, due to its low cost and low maintenance requirements, and the environment, as it saves water. As well as reusing rainwater, irrigating the plant roots directly through the clay pots minimizes losses through evaporation and surface runoff.

"The irrigapote is a technology in which you protect the rainwater and when the water tank is full, a PVC pipe takes the water to the small pot. This pot has a lid and inside it there is a float. As the pot dries out, the float opens and keeps the pot constantly full," explains Lucieta.

"The farmer doesn't have to worry about irrigation because it's an independent process. When the soil dries out, the plant emits a thin root right up to the wall of the pot. It sticks to the wall of the pot and sucks up only what it needs," adds the researcher.

The technology is especially important during the dry season. "Clay pot supervision technology has proven effective in providing controlled water to plants, and is especially useful in places with limited access to water or where conventional supervision is challenging due to a lack of electricity," says the agrometeorologist.

Social technology

“Irrigapote” received certification in the 12th edition of the Banco do Brasil Foundation Social Technology Award and Challenge for the Reapplication of Social Technology, competing with 1,012 initiatives from all over the country in 2024.

The technology was initially implemented at Embrapa's Technological Reference Unit in the community of Lavras, in Santarém. It has already been replicated at the Experimental Farm of the Federal University of Western Pará (Ufopa), also in Santarém, and in Capitão Poço. It is currently being implemented in Tucuruí.

Farmer João Alberto Nascimento, from the Barro Vermelho community in Capitão Poço, started using the irrigapote at the end of last year. Despite the short time, he says he has already noticed some improvements. "The plants are lusher and healthier than in areas without this security," he says.

For the grower, the technique will be especially important with the arrival of summer. "Even in the hot season, we'll have that moisture in the pot that the plants will absorb. This way, we don't waste water and we protect the environment," he says.

Solution guarantees cultivation without deforestation

Pará is the second largest producer of black pepper in Brazil, behind Espírito Santo. Producing black pepper in the traditional way, however, can result in many trees being cut down, as the pepper tree is a climbing plant and needs a support, called a tutor, in order to grow. Usually, hardwood posts are used to provide this support. For each hectare planted, around 25 to 35 trees are cut down to make the stakes. As the area planted in the state is approximately 16,000 hectares, around 320,000 to 400,000 trees had to be felled for this crop.

A technology developed by Embrapa, and currently led by agronomist João Paulo Both, provides a more sustainable way of producing black pepper: using a tree called gliricidia as a living tutor.

With this technique, the black pepper tree is grown on the trunk of the gliricidia. This not only avoids the use of seasons, but also plants new trees, which contributes to carbon sequestration. The management of gliricidia has also improved the condition of the soil, with greater nitrogen fixation and the incorporation of organic matter, such as the leaves that fall from it, keeping the soil moister and eliminating the use of fertilizers. There is also the thermal comfort that the treetops offer the producer at harvest time.

Economy

Growing black peppers on live stakes also means less expense for the farmer. "The gliricidia costs an average of R$5 and the stake, R$30. When planting one hectare, the farmer saves around 28%. What's more, gliricidia is a 'twiggy' plant, so the producer only buys it once and can produce new live tutors from the first ones purchased," explains Both.

Research by Embrapa, he says, has found that the black pepper grown on the live plant has a higher quality, with a higher concentration of piperine, which is what gives the pepper its spiciness. "The differential of Brazilian production is precisely quality, combined with sustainability, which adds value to the product," the researcher points out.

Municipalities

In relation to the total planted in the state, the use of live tutors still occupies only a few hectares, but it has increased. From 70 hectares in 2014, it has now grown to 315 hectares. The municipality that uses the technology the most is Capitão Poço, followed by Tomé-Açu, Baião, Igarapé-Açu and Castanhal.

Producer Maciel Ferreira, from Baião, approves of the technology. "Gliricidia is a plant that is here to stay, to add to the mix. It's the future of this type of production. The living tutor has many advantages for people: the shade that helps at harvest time, a product with more density and weight when it comes to selling, not to mention what it leaves for the soil, such as the leaf, which is rich in urea and brings benefits. The crop is also freer from pests," he says. "And there's also the environmental importance, because we no longer cut down big trees, like acapu, which you hardly see anymore, they've all been destroyed," he says.

Handling guarantees açaí all year round

Pará is the country's leading producer of açaí, accounting for around 94% of what is produced in Brazil. However, the intensification of the activity in order to meet the high demands of the market has led to the impoverishment of the floodplain regions, which have become practically monocultures of açaí. It is normal for these regions to have up to 70 different species of trees, but with intensive management for the exploitation of açaí, only açaiberry trees remain. As well as damaging biodiversity, this reduces the productivity of the açaí itself, whose palm needs other species around it to grow, because of the nutrients they provide.

As part of the "Bem Diverso" project, a partnership between Embrapa, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Manejaí - Marajó Native Açaí Tree Management Reference Center was created in the Santo Ezequiel Moreno community in Portel. The project adopts the Minimum Impact Management Technology for açaí production, developed by forestry engineer José Antônio Leite.

With this technology, producers are trained in sustainable management: they receive guidance on how to maintain an adequate number of açaiberry trees and other species within the same area, as well as the spacing between them. They are also shown which native species can be best intercropped with the açaiberry tree.

"An unmanaged or improperly managed açaiberry forest environment has its production period very concentrated in three or four months, which is the harvest period. According to Embrapa's management recommendations, we have cases of areas that produce all year round; not in large quantities, but enough for the family's consumption and a small surplus for sale. This has always been a major concern of ours, the food security of the riverside family. But we realized that the use of technology also provides a specific increase in fruit production, of up to 30%," explains Leite.

Mulpliers

According to the expert, the idea of the project was also to train the community, with groups becoming multipliers for other families. In the initial stage, 50 people were trained to pass on minimum impact management to other riverside dwellers. This resulted in 54 communities in the region having already been trained by the facilitators.

Gracionice Corrêa, from the Monte Hermon community in Portel, believes that the technology is transformative. "An area that didn't produce or had very low production, which was producing one ton, increases its productivity and can reach four or five tons a year. Another advantage is that it doesn't harm the environment, because it's controlled management, and it's quality production. It's environmental education for people, and at the same time it's in line with our reality, our roots and our identity," says the Marajoara agro-extractivist.