LOW CARBON AGRICULTURE PROGRAM

STRENGTHENING THE
LOW CARBON AGRICULTURE IN BRAZIL

LOW CARBON AGRICULTURE PROGRAM

STRENGTHENING THE
LOW CARBON AGRICULTURE IN BRAZIL

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Low Carbon Agriculture Program (PRS in Portuguese) implements actions in farming and ranching in Brazil’s main biomes. We seek to restore deforested and degraded land on small and medium-sized properties to improve productivity. This is possible with the use of low-carbon agricultural production practices and social technologies, while avoiding illegal deforestation and the pressure for expansion of new productive areas. There are almost $84 million dollars destined to this great objective. In practice, we show that it is possible to do more and better with the area already used by traditional agriculture and livestock raising.

We are present in 21% of the Brazilian territory, in an area of 1.7 million km², operating in 252 municipalities. For comparison purposes, this coverage corresponds to the sum of the extension of countries like Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Greece and Belgium.

TIMELINE

TIMELINE

2012
2019
2021
2023
2024
2012

Start: Amazon and Atlantic Forest Biomes

This is where it all started: Phase I of the PRS, which lasted until 2019. The goal was to improve land and forest management by farmers in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes, leveraging sustainable rural development, reducing rural poverty, conserving biodiversity, and protecting the climate.

2019

Beginning of operations in the Caatinga and Cerrado

Based on the successful experience of Phase I and seeking to overcome the challenges of the learned lessons, we seek to implement sustainable production practices in harmony with the territory. It started the PRS - Caatinga and the PRS - Cerrado and it will last until 2023.

In both biomes, we seek to promote sustainable and profitable production techniques for low carbon farming. Knowledge is developed together with communities, respecting the land vocation and enhancing productive technologies.

2021

Extension to the Amazon biome begins

Based on the achievements of PRS Phase I, the extension in the Amazon biome is to be launched in 2021, with the objective of developing sustainable value chains. The project is aimed at socio-productive organizations, working the entire production chain, from primary production and product processing to commercialization and sustainable certification.

2023

End of activities in the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes

After four years of implementation, the PRS concludes its activities in the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes. It is expected to increase the income of up to 18% of benefited farmers, with more than 28 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions reduced through avoided deforestation and with more than 3 thousand rural properties adopting sustainable agricultural practices.

2024

End of Low Carbon Agriculture Program

This year marks the end of the work in the Amazon, thus the end of PRS' activities. In this biome alone, it is expected that 2 thousand hectares of deforestation will be avoided, 600 families of small producers/extractivists will improve their productive practices, 15 socio-productive organizations will be strengthened, and 6 thousand hectares of land will be sustainably managed.

TIMELINE

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BENEFITS OF LOW CARBON FARMING

Agropecuary is understood as the junction of agriculture and livestock raising. In addition to traditional practices, several technologies can be implemented to increase productivity and soil resilience, while reducing the pressure to increase new areas, fighting illegal deforestation, and living in harmonious coexistence with the territory.

An effective transition to sustainable agriculture and livestock raising is possible!

The Low Carbon Agriculture Program contributes to leverage agricultural production by sustainable means. It enables a significant increase in the productive area of critical ecosystems, such as the Amazon, as they are effectively protected and restored when integrating sustainable management practices to reduce emissions, build climate resilience and combat poverty in rural areas.

And the Brazilian agriculture has been carrying out several actions to reduce the environmental impact, such as the adoption of new technologies and management alternatives or the integration of different systems in the same area. In this context, the Low Carbon Agriculture Program presents itself as a tool to protect biodiversity and boost the positive results of nature, since it seeks to:

WHERE WE ACT

WHERE WE ACT

We have 851.57 million hectares of land. The latest Agricultural and Livestock Census of 2017 shows that the area of rural establishments is 351 million hectares. That is, 41% of the total Brazilian territory. About 39% of this area suffers from some type of degradation. Brazil has the potential to recover about 97 million hectares with some degree of degradation for the intensification of livestock and other crops. This is equivalent to an area corresponding to the sum of four European countries: Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Greece.

Amazon

Characterization of the biome

  • Presence of traditional communities, riverine and quilombolas.
  • Structuring of value chains (such as round fish, coffee, açaí, Brazil nuts and cacao), + increase in productivity and income.

How the program operates (extension)

  • Present in 109 municipalities.
  • The focus is on avoiding illegal deforestation by supporting sustainable productive chains of açaí, coffee, fish, Brazil nuts and cacao, which enables increased income and productivity;
  • It
    will promote the development of productive chains that are economically and environmentally sustainable, based on adding value to Amazon products, technical assistance and strengthening of socio-productive organizations.

Cerrado

Characterization of the biome

  • Largest grain producer in the country.
  • Intensification of sustainable production (reducing the pressure to open new productive areas).

How the program works

  • Effective transition to sustainable agriculture, training almost 10 thousand people and driving the transformation at scale, in 4 states and 101 municipalities.
  • Enables the application of incentives for the adoption of good resilient and, at the same time, profitable environmental management practices.
  • Master’s course with the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) on ABC;
  • Distance Learning course in partnership with the Roberto Marinho Foundation;
  • 20 socio-productive organizations strengthened;
  • 300 thousand hectares of low carbon technologies implemented;
  • + 16 thousand people benefited;
  • 4,500 rural producers trained.
  • Will use innovative financial instruments, such as the SAFF, to leverage rural credit, carbon credits and with the potential to replicate in other biomes.

Caatinga

Characterization of the biome

  • The only exclusively Brazilian biome, strategic in relation to biodiversity.
  • Agriculture is predominantly family-based, developed on small farms.

Como o programa atua

  • Present in 5 Brazilian states, with 37 municipalities.
  • It acts in the strengthening of 20 Local Productive Arrangements with the implementation of low carbon agricultural technologies, dialoguing with the priorities of the AgroNordeste public policy;
  • It promotes sustainable strategies for food production, conciliating soil conservation and the transformation of degraded land into arable land to stop the advance of the desertification process;
  • Benefits 1,725 people, with the adoption of innovative social technologies in energy and water;
  • In partnership with UNIVASF, the lato sensu course in low carbon agricultural technologies, with 600 enrolled persons, aimed at the qualification of ATER services;
  • Mapping of Land Use and Hydrography from high resolution satellite images;
  • Strengthening of several stakeholder networks, including the formation of a Technical Territorial Committee that gathers representatives from several sectors acting in the Caatinga.

Atlantic Rainforest

Characterization of the biome

  • Made up of a set of forests and ecosystems that corresponds to 15% of the Brazilian territory, forming a dense and closed forest;
  • Besides being present in 17 Brazilian states, it also covers part of Paraguay and Argentina.

How the program worked

  • The Atlantic Forest biome was a special challenge, covering extremely varied areas from a biophysical and socioeconomic point of view, ranging from the South to the Northeast of Brazil. The Program’s action was around the application of varied sustainable technologies, providing technical assistance and rural extension, improving land and forest management.

Click on the map to learn more about the biomes and how we operate in them.

HOW WE OPERATE

HOW WE OPERATE

LOW CARBON TECHNOLOGIES

The Crop-Livestock-Forest Integration (ILPF) systems, understood as Agroforestry Systems (SAFs), and the Recovery of Degraded Pastures (RPD) are production strategies. The former integrates different agricultural, livestock and forestry activities in the same area, in intercropping, in succession or in rotation, seeking synergistic effects among its components, contemplating environmental suitability and economic feasibility. The RPD, on the other hand, consists of techniques that promote the recovery of the productive capacity of degraded pastures, providing an increase in the productivity of forage species.

  • INTEGRATED SYSTEMS improve livestock, farming, and keep the forest standing.
  • RECOVERY OF DEGRADED AREAS reestablishes the soil cover and the vigor of the forage plants existing in the pasture impact

SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES

These are products, techniques or methodologies that can be reapplied, developed in interaction with the communities and that represent effective solutions for social transformation on a large scale.

We recognize Caatinga as an open-air laboratory that creates, systematizes and promotes exchanges between the knowledge of rural producers and the experience of social organizations in dialogue with technical and scientific knowledge developed in the region.

SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES

These are products, techniques or methodologies that can be reapplied, developed in interaction with the communities and that represent effective solutions for social transformation on a large scale.

We recognize Caatinga as an open-air laboratory that creates, systematizes and promotes exchanges between the knowledge of rural producers and the experience of social organizations in dialogue with technical and scientific knowledge developed in the region.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

Conserve biodiversity natural resources and avoid illegal deforestation by increasing productivity and profitability in sustainable land use, reducing poverty in rural areas.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

People

• Increase the income of rural producers;
• Improve access to incentives for their sustainable development.

Nature and land use

• To leverage the use of sustainable production systems, with gains in biodiversity and conservation of natural resources;
• To promote the maintenance of ecosystem services and the conservation of biodiversity through actions to restore degraded landscapes;
• To promote the training of rural producers for the consolidation of low carbon agriculture and livestock raising.

Climate

• Transforming traditional production methods for a more sustainable and resilient to climate change agricultural production;
• Reducing GHG emissions through the restoration of anthropized areas and environmental protection.

TARGETS FOR PHASE II

      PRS – Caatinga

  • 1.500 rural producers mobilized
  • 600 hectares of sustainable management
  • 200 hectares of conserved area in private property
  • + 15% improvement in family income
  • + 120 ATER professionals trained
  • 200 hectares of restored area
  • 20 million tons of CO2 avoided
  • Adoption of innovative social technologies in energy and water
  • Publication of the collection Journals of PRS Caatinga, with research results on environmental and social conditions and the impact of low carbon technologies for its restoration and conservation;
  • In partnership with UNIVASF, promotes the lato sensu course in low carbon agricultural technologies, with 600 registered, aimed at the qualification of ATER services;
  • Performs the mapping of Land Use and Hydrography from high resolution satellite images;
  • Promotes the strengthening of various stakeholder networks, including the formation of a Technical Territorial Committee that brings together representatives of various sectors operating in the Caatinga.

       PRS – Cerrado

  • More than 16,000 people benefited
  • 4,500 rural producers trained
  • 1,500 farmers with access to improved credit
  • 300,000 hectares of low carbon emission technologies implemented
  • 3,000 Multiplier Units supported
  • 170 Demonstration Units identified 20 socio-productive organizations strengthened
  • 33 supported researches
  • Professional Master’s degree in partnership with the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) in ABC
  • Distance Learning Course in partnership with Canal Futura, of the Roberto Marinho Foundation
  • Use of innovative financial instruments in Green Finance, to leverage rural credit, carbon credits and with the potential to be replicated in other biomes

Attendance at capacity-building actions in mobilization

  • 9,000 rural producers
  • 7,800 young people
  • 1,750 ATER professionals

Amazon (extension)

  • 400 thousand tons of GHG emissions mitigated by avoided deforestation
  • 15% increase in annual gross family income
  • 10% increase in productivity
  • 600 producer/extractivist families adopting sustainable production practices

RESULTS ACHIEVED IN PHASE 1

Amazon

  • Around R$ 24 million reais disbursed directly to rural producers
  • 1,559 supported Multiplying Units
  • 17,922 participants in training actions
  • 3 on-site training sessions held with Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Agents (ATECs)
  • 133 Demonstration Units

Atlantic Rainforest

  • More than R$ 19 million reais disbursed directly to rural producers
  • 1,984 Multiplying Units supported
  • 22,677 participants in training actions
  • 4 on-site training sessions held with ATECs
  • 218 Demonstration Units

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE

We are funded by Technical Cooperation approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with resources from the UK Government’s International Climate Finance, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) as institutional beneficiary. We operate in the Cerrado and Amazon biomes, executed and managed by the Brazilian Institute for Development and Sustainability (IABS), and in the Caatinga biome, executed and managed by the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development (FBDS). In the first phase of the Program, we developed work in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes.

In a broader context, the Program is in direct dialogue with major structuring Brazilian public policies, especially the sectoral plan for Adaptation to Climate Change and Low Carbon Emission in Agriculture and Livestock for Sustainable Development, the ABC+, and as a sectoral instrument for compliance with the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

The work in the biomes is also connected with specific public policies for the respective territories. Two biomes stand out: in the Caatinga, the PRS dialogues with the AgroNordeste; in the Amazon, the PRS leverages the promotion of productive landscapes with extractivism (wild harvesting) and low-carbon farming methods, aiming to ensure environmental, social and economic resilience, while reducing the need for conversion of native vegetation, consequently reducing illegal deforestation and soil degradation in the Amazon. The PRS – Amazonia, by intervening in three municipalities (Lábrea, São Félix do Xingú and Altamira), which are also priority municipalities of the National Council for the Legal Amazon, headed by the Vice-President of the Republic, Hamilton Mourão.

We are also in direct dialogue with the Águas do Agro policy, which promotes sustainable economic development in rural areas by adopting soil and water conservation measures and practices, with efficient management of natural resources. The focus of this policy is on watersheds and on the strengthening of sustainable technologies for the use of water and soil.

Tangentially, we can mention the interlocution of Low Carbon Agriculture Program with the National Program for Surveying and Interpretation of Brazilian Soils (PronaSolos). After all, Rural reaches such a large territory and locations of such a wide range of sizes, soil characteristics, and biodiversity, that the connection with PronaSolos can be deepened even further. There are also efforts by the Brazilian government to build the PronaSolos Platform, which will gather Brazilian soil information. The data can be accessed by researchers, rural producers and by the population in general, free of charge.

The Major Brazilian Low Carbon Agriculture Policy

BRAZIL’S NDC: Nationally Determined Contribution Achieving
concrete results towards a low carbon economy

EXPECTED RESULTS

Performance in the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes and extension into the Amazon

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CONTACT

programaruralsustentavel-com@iabs.org.br