TEKOHAW, Brazil (AP) 鈥 At dawn in this small Amazonian village in Brazil's Para state, flocks of noisy green parrots soar overhead as children run and play between wooden homes, kicking up sandy soil 鈥 in places white and bare as a beach.
The ground reveals one of the paradoxes of the rainforest. Renowned for its beauty and biodiversity, the life-giving nutrients of the forest are mostly stored in the trees and other plants, not the soil.
When the forest is cleared 鈥 for a cattle ranch, soybean field or even a small cluster of village homes 鈥 the combination of scorching Amazonian sun and intense rainfall combine to leach scarce nutrients from the soil in just a few years, leaving behind surprisingly barren ground.
This makes it difficult to sustain agriculture in one place.
And in a region with in Brazil, people with few options have often just abandoned degraded fields and cleared more forest 鈥 hastening the cycle of deforestation that and the millions of species unique to the Amazon.
鈥淭he biodiversity is rich, but so many people are very poor,鈥 said Judson Ferreira Valentim, a soil scientist for the government鈥檚 agricultural research agency, Embrapa. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 protect the rainforest without addressing the poverty of the Amazon.鈥
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EDITORS鈥 NOTE 鈥 This story is part of , an AP series that examines the question: Can we feed this growing world without starving the planet? To see the full project, visit
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The only way to meet both goals is to find more paths for people to make a living in the Amazon without further destroying the rainforest, say experts who have long worked in the region. That means using already deforested land more efficiently 鈥 to reduce pressure to clear more forest 鈥 as well as supporting businesses that sustainably harvest native products such as a莽a铆 and cacao.
The scale of abandoned farm and pastureland across the Brazilian Amazon is massive 鈥 covering an area larger than Portugal, according to an AP analysis of data derived from satellite imagery by the Brazilian .
Other researchers estimate that ranching, which accounts for between 60% and 80% of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, is as it should be, and that increasing the efficiency on the same land area would more than meet increasing demands for meat through 2040. Brazil is a major exporter of beef to global markets, and currently 43% of Brazil鈥檚 cattle are raised within the Amazon region, according to an AP analysis .
鈥淵ou have to enforce laws against deforestation, but that鈥檚 only part of the solution. You also have to give people alternatives鈥 to improve their livelihoods, said Rachael Garrett, a researcher at Cambridge University who鈥檚 conducted fieldwork in the Amazon since 2006.
There are 28 million people living in just Brazil鈥檚 portion of the Amazon 鈥 including Indigenous farmers, ranchers who migrated from other parts of the country, and settlers forcibly relocated decades ago when the government took their old land for infrastructure projects like the Itaip煤 Dam.
SUPERCHARGING THE SOIL
Dairy farmer Edson Cesar de Oliveira has been experimenting with planting a native legume called forage peanuts alongside grass in his pastures in Acre state. This plant attracts bacteria to its roots that can pull nitrogen from the air into the ground, essentially acting as a low-cost natural fertilizer.
While grass-only pastures may degrade in just two or three years, adding legumes may extend the soil鈥檚 fertility to ten or more years. It鈥檚 also higher in protein than grass alone, which helps livestock grow faster.
De Oliveria, who said he can鈥檛 afford chemical fertilizers, has noticed that pastures with forage peanuts don鈥檛 turn as yellow during the dry season. And cows that graze there for at least two nights produce about 20% more milk, he said.
TASTES OF THE RAINFOREST: A脟A脥 AND CACAO
C茅sar De Mendes is trying to grow a business in the rainforest without cutting any trees at all.
Walking through the forest along a tributary of the Amazon in Par谩, he points out bright yellow fruits that sprout, sometimes in pairs, from the middle of tree trunks. It鈥檚 cacao, the plant responsible for one of the world鈥檚 great joys: chocolate.
His company, De Mendes Chocolates, uses cacao harvested from virgin rainforest. He鈥檚 hoping customers will appreciate how different microclimates and soil conditions across the region subtly impact the flavor of the chocolate.
The idea of harvesting rainforest fruits is simple, but scaling up a sustainable business isn鈥檛 always easy. Just getting fruit to market before it spoils can be a huge challenge. Last year during the rainy season, one road was closed for 90 days.
One solution is to build small processing factories near the forest, as the longstanding agricultural collective Projeto RECA has done in Brazil鈥檚 northern state of Rond么nia.
Workers collect a莽a铆 berries from local pickers, then haul them back to Projeto RECA鈥檚 campus on the back of a motorcycle so they can quickly be transformed into jams, syrups and frozen fruit pulp before they go bad.
鈥楾HE FOREST SUSTAINS US鈥
The impacts of climate change are already being felt locally in the Amazon region, forcing other adaptations.
For as long as their stories tell, the Indigenous Temb茅 people of Tekohaw village have used fire to clear small plots of land to grow cassava, beans and other subsistence crops. After farming for three years, they鈥檇 clear new land.
Because their plots were small, the overall impact on the forest was minimal. But now the village chief wants to find other ways to manage the soil鈥檚 fertility.
鈥淲e want to improve agriculture here, in one specific place, not keep burning fields and pushing nature back,鈥 said Kapara铆 Temb茅, setting his hoe on the ground and mopping the sweat from his brow. 鈥淲e need to nurture the soil.鈥
Earlier this year, the villagers treated the field with a powder made from grinding up limestone. It鈥檚 a technique to reduce the natural acidity of the Amazonian soil. Temb茅 has also begun planting another legume, called the pigeon pea, to add nitrogen to the soil.
As he walked back to the village, Temb茅 heard the raucous shriek of a scarlet macaw.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a reminder of where I am,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he forest sustains us, the animals, the plants 鈥 we want to protect it.鈥
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The Associated Press Health and 国产诱惑福利 Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 国产诱惑福利 and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
