The role of agroforestry in restoring Brazil's Atlantic Forest: Opportunities and challenges for smallholder farmers

Abstract

Restoring the degraded Atlantic Forest is one of the biggest conservation challenges in Brazil. In a biome with high human presence, understanding the potential for restoration approaches, such as agroforestry, to provide benefits to smallholder farmers and biodiversity is essential in developing equitable restoration strategies. Smallholder or family farmers are essential to national food security, producing most fruit and vegetables consumed in Brazil. Their farms can also provide ecological stepping stones for biodiversity. To better understand their role in Atlantic Forest restoration, this study explores the use of agroforestry by smallholder farmers from the Movimento Sem Terra (MST), the Rural Landless Workers' Movement, in Pontal do Paranapanema. We use quantitative and qualitative data to assess farmer perceptions of the measures which support agroforestry farming, barriers to implementation and its impact on indicators of wellbeing. We find agroforestry farmers report significant benefits in 8 of 18 tested indicators. Attitudes to agroforestry are varied, but common themes emerge including the high value of tree cover for shade and cooling effects, and the difficulties in selling agroforestry products. Our results show lack of policy support and initial investment needs are the biggest constraints to agroforestry, but opportunity cost is not considered a large barrier. Tailored policies and financial measures are needed to integrate thousands of smallholder farmers into the Atlantic Forest restoration agenda, helping to reach biome restoration targets while supporting rural livelihoods and national food security. Further research is required into links between additional socio‐economic and biogeographical variables and agroforestry uptake in the region.

Clusterization of Agroforestry Farmers using K-Means Cluster Algorithm and Elbow Method

“…Another characteristic is the low formal education of agroforestry farmers, which is also found in various regions (Akinwalere and Okunlola 2019;Kaba et al 2020;Nuryati et al 2019;Shennan-Farpón et al 2022;Suyadi et al 2019). The low level of farmer education indicated the low level of farming family welfare and the potential for land management and obtained income.…”

Soil physical and biological quality in a peasant agroforestry system in Southern Brazil

“…The adoption of AFS may also contribute to economic and social aspects, being promoted as a sustainable production alternative for smallholder farming in Brazil (Bezerra et al, 2019;Shennan-Farpón et al, 2022). The great diversity of food production in AFS, which comes from annual and vegetable crops, forestry and fruit species harvested at different times of the year, increases smallholder farmer's income and optimizes family labour.…”

Soil physical and biological quality in a peasant agroforestry in Southern Brazil

“…The adoption of AFS may also contributes to economic and social aspects, being promoted as a sustainable production alternative for smallholder farming in Brazil (Bezerra et al 2019;Shennan-Farpón et al 2022). The great diversity of food production in AFS, that comes from annual and vegetable crops, forestry and fruit species harvested at different times in the year, increases smallholder farmer's income, optimizes family labor, and decreases the dependence on external inputs and supplies (Siminski et al 2016).…”