Improvement of family farming as a sustainable development tool of

Serrote da Laje Project.

Author: Andr Germani
Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability Consultant, Brazil
Co-Author:
Jos Brito
Agronomist, Consultant, Brazil

The Serrote da Laje Project, owned by Aura Minerals through its subsidiary Minerao Vale
Verde (MVV), is a greenfield sulphide & oxide copper project located at Alagoas State, Brazil,
in a low HDI area, with an economy based on subsistence farming. The Project is social
sensitive, once around 280 families sits on the required area for the project structures. To
develop trust relationship with local communities in order to carry out the resettlement program
under its environment and sustainability policy, MVV created the Partner Farmer Program.
The Program was focused on the development of the local agricultural potential, by evaluating
and introducing new crops and cultures, implementing improved farming techniques and
farmers training. The main objective was to consolidate the relationship with these stakeholders
in order to facilitate the resettlement program to be held forward for the construction and
operation of MVV.
The program consisted of experimental and commercial phases. During the experimental phase,
multiple test crops and cultures were organized alongside the farmers. For the commercial
phase, local farmers cultivated new crops, with technical support made available by MVV. The
productivity obtained was more than six times above the states average. The crops production
was commercialized and the profit distributed among the participants.

The resettlement program was carried out as planned, with proper management,
consolidating a transparent and trustful relationship with local communities.

Improvement of family farming as a sustainable

development tool, Arapiraca Project, Brazil
AUTHORS
Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability Manager, Minerao Vale Verde Ltd., Brazil
Andr Germani*
Agronomist, Minerao Vale Verde Ltd., Brazil
Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability Consultant. Rua Joo Furtado, 138,
apto 501. Bairro Gutierrez. CEP: 30.441-074, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Mobile: +55 31
9748-2277; Phone: +55 31 3656-1405
Email: andregermani@yahoo.com.br

Jos E. Brito

ABSTRACT
The Arapiraca Project is located in the countryside of Alagoas State, Brazil, in an area with low
Human Development Index (HDI), with an economy based essentially on subsistence farming
of tobacco. Minerao Vale Verde (MVV), a subsidiary of Aura Minerals of Canada, is currently
developing a project for the mining and processing of copper and iron ore in the area. To
contribute to the improvement of local communities and following its environment and
sustainability policy, the Company created the Partner Farmer Program.
The programme focuses on the development of the local agricultural potential, by evaluating
and introducing new crops and cultures, implementing improved farming techniques and
training farmers. The objective is to consolidate the relationship with these stakeholders,
creating the opportunity for an increase in income and quality of life, at the same time
improving the environmental conditions surrounding the project area.
The programme consists on both experimental and commercial stages, followed by
communication events to disseminate knowledge generated during the program. In the first
stage, agricultural experiments were organized with multiple test crops and cultures to evaluate
their viability on a commercial scale, along with the farmers. For the commercial stage, local
farmers were invited to cultivate new crops, with technical support on land made available by
the company. Results from the commercial stage showed corn productivity of 4,032 kg/ha, more
than six times above the Alagoas states average. In this case, the production was of around 40
tonnes of grain, which was commercialized and the profit distributed equally among the
participants.

INTRODUCTION
Minerao Vale Verde Ltda. (MVV), located in the countryside of Alagoas state, Brazil, in the
municipalities of Crabas and Arapiraca, is developing a mining project to process copper and
iron ore.
In compliance with its own environmental and sustainability policies, the Company organized
an agricultural program with the communities in the region of Crabas. MVV plans to
consolidate sustainable agricultural development as a positive impact of the mining industry in
the region.
Geological and engineering studies have confirmed that it will be necessary to relocate land of
around 200 280 families from the direct area of influence. For that, development of relationship
and confidence between the company and the surrounding communities is essential to support
the necessary activities and procedures to accomplish the required relocation, and the Partner
Farmer Program is part of this communication efforts, besides of also to strive on promoting the
attainment of the present and future demands of these families also strives to promote the
attainment of the present and future demands of these families.
Crabas municipality (Figure 1) has a poor Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.553 (PNUD,
2000), even by Latin American standards, and a population of 22,627 inhabitants, according to
the last census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Censo IBGE, 2010).

Figure 1 - Location map of Crabas municipality

The main economic activities of the municipality are agriculture and commerce. Agriculture is
the most important, represented by 70% of the economically active population of 15,187 people
14 years old or over (IBGE, 2006) working with tobacco, cassava, maize, beans, cattle, sheep,
goats, swine, horses and poultry. Agricultural activity is essentially of subsistent farming
producing food, which usually is commercialized locally, also maintaining part of the
population that does not have a steady job.
Even though the municipality depends on these agricultural activities, productivity is still low.
Two factors are responsible for these unproductive harvests: low annual rainfall and the fact that
local farmers have little agricultural knowledge, especially the family farmers; thus making
socioeconomic growth difficult.
According to Nascimento (2010), the region has a semi-humid climate with six months of dry
season. The average annual rainfall is 682 mm but there is a great variability from year to year
(PCA MVV, 2009). Most of the rainfall is limited to a trimester, between May and July, with over
50% of the annual rainfall; this indicates that rainfall in the remaining nine months is very
limited. The dry season coincides with spring and summer which makes it a harsh period of the
year.
The Companys sustainability programmes are focused on the local development. The main
objective of the programme presented here is to maintain the population in rural areas, through
technical training, product diversification and environmental education.
The Partner Farmer Program arose from the necessity to introduce new agricultural techniques
to the local plantations in order to increase the productivity and also to diversify cultivated
species in the region, after confirming the viabilities of these species with controlled agricultural
experiments. The programme is also to raise the level of agricultural knowledge of the local
farmers, based on the introduction of new species and cultivation techniques that increase
productivity and, as a result of this, raise these farmers income.
The Arapiraca Project must obtain public acceptance, held as a social license. In order to
build and to operate a mine among agricultural communities, the |Company has to develop
positive relationships with the local people, who depend on the land and who will need to be
relocated to other land in the vicinity of the project. This major impact needs to be handled
properly and approval obtained by consensual discussions between the parties. The Partner
Farmer Program is part of the relocation plan and additionally contributes on preparing the

host area for agricultural use and on the positive acceptance of this area, where relocated
community wouldl be living on the future.
In terms of sustainability, which includes the social, environmental and economic aspects of this
programme, it develops the communities capacity to deal with environmental aspects of
agriculture, like the maintenance of preservation areas, the proper use of agrochemicals as well
as safety on the job. The economic aspect is related to their ability to manage collective
agriculture arrangements, including purchasing of goods, sharing of field equipment, harvest
negotiation and profit distribution.
The programme is composed of commercial plantation, experimental plantation and
communication initiatives, when the information and knowledge gathered during the field
activities are shared between the participants and the local community.
Maize (Zea maiz L.) was chosen to be cultivated in the commercial plantation for the agricultural
year of 2010 due to its potentially high productivity and because it is already a crop used by the
farmers of the region. For the experimental plantation the following species were selected:
castor beans and beans, sesame seeds, sunflower, pumpkin, sorghum, cotton and over fifty
varieties of maize.
These plantations were conducted at the Uru farm, owned by MVV and located in the
Arapiraca Project area. The participants were the Companys employees, all of them members of
the local communities, and local farmers.

METHODOLOGY
Following a socioeconomic census of all communities neighbouring the project area, public
meetings were held with community leaders to present the programme. The community
members who became interested were taken in visits to the Uruu Farm and shown the various
steps needed to prepare the soil and plant the crops being considered.
These techniques are based on the best practices of conventional commercial farming, including
soil preparation, fertilizing and the application of limestone, to correct the soils pH, and
herbicides. All plantations respected preservation areas of natural vegetation, including margins
of creeks.
Field days were planned to present the progress, and a final seminary was held to demonstrate
the entire programme results, challenges and profit distribution.
The results from the programmes stages are tabled below:

Commercial plantation stage

Table 01 Maize production
Step
Seeding

Material

Fertilising

2B707
200 kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 formula and 100 kg/ha of
urea

Herbicides

3,01 L/ha of atrazina and 3,01/ha of alaclor

Insecticide

0,41 L/ha of lannate

Fungicide
Average grain
production

0,41 L/ha of opera

4.032 kg/ha

Experimental plantation stage

Table 02 Evaluation of maize cultivars for the Brazilian northeast
Step
Seeding and fertilising

Material
200kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 formula and 100 kg/ha of
urea

Herbicides

3,01L/ha of atrazina and 3,01/ha of alaclor

Insecticide

0,41L/ha of lannate

Fungicide

0,41L/ha of opera

Average grain production

7.531 kg/ha

Table 03 Evaluation of the experimental plantation of sorghum

Step

Material

Seeding and fertilising

250kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 formula and 100 kg/ha of urea

Herbicides

3,01L/ha of atrazina

Insecticide

0,41L/ha of lannate

Fungicide

Not used

Productivity of silage

41.000 kg/ha

Table 04 Evaluation of the experimental plantation of sunflower

Step

Material

Seeding and fertilising

200kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 formula and 80 kg/ha of urea

Herbicides

3,01L/ha of premerlin

Insecticide

0,41L/ha of lannate

Fungicide

Not used

Seed production

1,37 tonne/ha

Table 05 Evaluation of experimental plantation of pumpkin

Step
Seeding and fertilising

Material
166 kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 formula and 166 kg/ha of
urea

Herbicides

Manualy

Insecticide

lannate/decis

Fungicide

Not used

Productivity

13.200 kg/ha

Table 06 Evaluation of experimental plantation of castor beans and beans

Step

Material

Seeding and fertilising

120 kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 formula and 166 kg/ha of urea

Herbicides

0,75L/ha gramoxone and 3,31L/ha premerlin

Insecticide

Not used

Fungicide

Not used

Castor beans seed production

0,8 tonne/ha

Beans production

0,7 ton/ha

Table 07 Evaluation of experimental plantation of sesame

Step

Material

Seeding and fertilising

130 kg/ha of NPK 04-14-08 and 100 kg/ha of urea

Herbicides

Manualy

Insecticide

Not used

Fungicide

Not used

Seed production

0,612 tonne/ha

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Commercial plantation stage
The productivity obtained for corn was of 4,032 kg/ha, more than six times above the states
average. According to IBGE (2009), the municipality of Crabas produced 900 tons of maize in a
planted area of 1400 hectares, with a productivity of 642 kg/ha. These values showed a
significantly higher productivity in the programme area.
The low productivity of the usual crops in the municipality and region is essentially due to the
use of inadequate techniques; around 88% of the plantations use the least amount of soil
preparation as possible. Another reason is the low use of mechanized techniques; only 1% of the
planted area uses tractors (IBGE, 2006). Use of quality seeds, fertilization and management are
elements of successful harvests as well.
After the harvest, the production was commercialized, production costs deducted and the profit
was equally divided amongst the farmers who participated.

Experimental plantation stage

The results of the experiments showed that some new cultures experimented (sunflower,
sesame and pumpkin), not usually cultivated in the region, were well received and could be
developed as new sources of profits and diversity. Sorghum, which is practically unknown in
the region for livestock feeding, certainly could be used by the local farmers as a complement to
palm cactus commonly used, by its good productivity and higher amount of protein. All of that
information was transferred to the farmers in the communication events during the programme.

Partner Farmer Day

To disseminate the Partner Farmer Program and the used of agricultural techniques, MVV
organized at Uru farm on September 11th, 2010, the Partner Farmer Day. Farmers from all
communities neighbouring the Arapiraca Project were invited to participate. One hundred and
forty six people attended the event, including the Mayor and Secretary of Agriculture of Crabas
and IMA representatives.
Agricultural technicians and agronomists, from the Alagoas State Secretariat of Agriculture
(Seagri), gave talks about the best techniques to cultivate the experimental crops in the region.
During 2010, two other field day events were carried out, with similar community engagement.
The high productivity of maize experimental stage, when compared to the commercial stage is
due to the controlled conditions of the experiments.

Partner Farmer Seminary

On February 26th, 2011, MVV organized a workshop to present the results obtained by the 2010
Program, to disseminate the knowledge generated during commercial and experimental stages,
pay the participants their share on the profits of the commercial plantation and to invite new
partnerships for 2011 Program.

Partner Farmer Seminary

CONCLUSION
The development of local communities is a great opportunity for Arapiraca Serrote da Laje
Project to obtain and maintain a social license, and to exercise its sustainable policy and to go
forward with the resettlement program, once the trust relationship is achieved in the
communities. The Partner Farmer Program provided improved agricultural skills and
knowledge to the community farmers, raising their confidence about the Project. For 2011, new
areas and cultures are being selected, and the best results from the experimental stage of 2010
are being applied to the commercial plantations.

REFERENCES
IBGE

(2010)

Censo

2010,

Brazilian

<http://www.censo2010.ibge.gov.br>

Government,

viewed

07

January

2011,

IBGE (2010) Produo Agrcola Municipal 2009, Rio de Janeiro.

IBGE (2006) Produo Agrcola Municipal 2006, Rio de Janeiro.
Minerao Vale Verde (2009) Plano de Controle Ambiental Relatrio Tcnico 01: caracterizao tcnica
do empreendimento, Brandt, Crabas.

Nascimento, P. T. S. (2010) Anlise do padro espacial das chuvas no estado de Alagoas: Monografia de
graduao em geografia, Universidade Estadual de Alagoas, Arapiraca.
PNUD (2000). Atlas do desenvolvimento humano. www.pnud.org.br/atlas.