Does reducing our impact on the environment conflict with feeding millions of people living in poverty around the world? As sustainability becomes an increasingly important issue around the globe, one fear is that changes in food production taken to protect the environment could only worsen or simply result unfeasible in a planet where such a large percentage of people live in poverty. For example, the use of fertilizers, pesticides and the economies of scale achieved by growing food in large plantations (which often means clearing forests) allow farmers to produce cheaper foods for people who live on just cents a day. But harmful chemicals and clearing native plants harm soils and local ecosystems.
However, when local species are combined with an understanding of local culture and consumer demand, opportunities arise to tackle both problems. I had the opportunity of learning about a project that did just that in the jungles of Venezuela, for an article that I wrote for VenEconomy magazine.
Though Venezuela is one of the top producers of oil in the world and therefore one of the richest and most powerful in Latin America, corruption, poor governance and a crippled education system have led to a poor distribution of wealth and high poverty rates (around 50% according to the World Bank, though other sources say that it’s as high as 80%). In that country, the poorest communities are the native tribes, who generally live in secluded areas with little access to energy, clean water, health and education, and food. Besides poor infrastructure, the fact that many tribes choose to continue with their nomadic traditions also makes it difficult to supply them with food or teach them to harvest their own foods. But a local foundation called Fudeci, that is part of the country’s Academy of Sciences, has designed solutions that thrive despite these obstacles.
In their Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems (SIPRAS in Spanish), scientists have been able to teach tribe members about plants that are native to the Amazon jungle and provide nutritious fruits, which can be consumed by humans or fed to livestock. Because the plants are adapted to the soils, climate and thick tree covering of the Amazon, the tribe members don’t need to worry about the labor-intensive or expensive tasks of clearing forests, using fertilizer or constantly watering the crops. These qualities also make the impact of this food production minimal on the environment. The group has also taken advantage of the close ties among tribe members to teach them how to make small shelters for Royal Ducks, which are native to the Amazon and can be sold for high prices in countries like France. Instead of paying workers, the tribe works together to build the shelter and is taught how to care for the ducks. The foundation also works with university students in different fields, who are studying Amazonian fruit to see if they are apt for sale outside the jungle, as a way to provide more income to these communities. Engineering students are considering simple technology like fruit peelers that would make it easier for the tribes to process the fruit in order to turn them into feed for livestock.
Despite the fact that there has been success with a few tribes, large-scale rollout is difficult. Like so many innovations in sustainable agriculture around the world, limited budgets and political barriers have kept the projects working on a small scale. But projects like this prove that reducing hunger and protecting the environment don’t necessarily have to be rivals.
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