Valmir Noventa (MPA)
(See more from Valmir in Part 4)
Valmir Noventa is the state coordinator of the Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores (MPA) in Espírito Santo. He is also a successful farmer using agroecology techniques growing pepper corns, fruits, vegetables, small animals and coffee. He also works on the Campanha Permanente Contra os Agrotóxicos e Pela Vida campaign and with La Via Campesina.
“Espírito Santo has the highest consumption of agrotoxics [pesticides] than any other state in Brazil. The crops that use the most agrotoxics here are coffee, eucalyptus, sugarcane, papaya, passion fruit, and other fruit trees that are commodity crops for export. In coffee cultivation, for example, they use at least 24 types of agrotoxics throughout the year. This has a huge impact on nature and on people’s lives; greatly increasing cases of poisoning and cancer, leading to death. It is an alarming situation that has lead our movements to build a campaign against agrotoxics and for life in order to denounce this model and build alternatives for farmers.
We have observed a high rate of cancer in the municipalities where monocultures predominate. Public documents show that these municipalities are the most demanding on the State Department of Health for anti-depressant medications and chemotherapy. This is a direct link between the use of agrotoxics and disease. Some physicians tell their patients that their illnesses are related to poisonings but at the time of reporting they omit the documents.
The MPA and the movements of La Via Campesina have been working hard to advance agroecological experiments; proving that agroecology works, is viable and is able to feed the world. Small farms that are producing in a diverse way agroecologic crops are producing much more than the conventional system with much more diversity, more quality and family and youth are in the field with gusto. Agroecology is a solution not only for rural areas but also in the city because agroecology is not only the production of healthy food, but also to live a higher quality of life in the city. The youth work in the fields with much pleasure, motivation and income. More and more families are adopting the system for the transition from conventional agriculture to agroecology.
We are experimenting with small farmers by developing working relationships with their neighbors, the community, also with the help of some technicians, while valuing the wisdom of the local farmers, redeming our native plants, the native seeds, the recovery of the water springs, the reclamation, reforestation that finally provides a higher quality of food, more diversified food. This in turn causes us to build relationships with the city workers buying organic food, because when the farmer takes the food to the city they are fulfilling a role in society and making an important political relationship. We’re at the local markets and in some programs with schools, hospitals, and childcare facilities. The number of markets in the state has doubled in recent years. Agroecology proved that it is able to solve the climate problem, the problem of health, and to supply the people’s tables with quantity and quality.”