Residents of the Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) Puranga Conquista, located on the Rio Negro, near Manaus, are reforesting an area where a farm once operated. They were trained through a project to create nurseries and to introduce native and fruit seedlings in an orderly manner in the region.
In this special report, we went to the reserve to understand how this work is carried out. Community members aim to generate income in the medium and long term through the legal exploitation of timber and fruit.
Duration: 16’31”
Interviews:
Jovenilson Souza Corrêa “Tico”, nurseryman
Cíntia Valentim, nurseryman and community leader
“Jango” Matos Azevedo, nurseryman
Ananda Matos, forest engineer – Reflora Project
Executive Production:
Luciana Tôrres
Editing and finishing:
Alexandre Almeida
Production:
Amazon Agency
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"The good thing about the project is this participatory model, where they bring us the option to choose what we want to be planted in our area."
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"They taught us to work in a more productive way, to produce fruit in the middle of the field, in an agroecological way."
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"Many species have been removed over the years.
There are species that grow after deforestation; they are what we call pioneer species. But we need to restore it again to make this vegetation as diverse as possible, so that we can have both productive and ecological restoration."
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Jovenilson Souza “Tico”, nurseryman
"I got involved with the Reflora project because I like this field; I already worked in environmental activities.
And when Reflora came, I really identified with it. So I decided to move forward with Reflora.
They approached me, and thankfully I gained their trust, and I’ve been with them until the end of the project."
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"We keep observing, paying close attention to the soil and identifying seeds. You have to identify that there are more than five seeds of the same species.
This here is the mother tree... Another essential point in seed collection is anticipating it.
If you see a mother tree dropping seeds and think, I’ll collect them in three days, if you don’t collect them immediately, after three days this can happen. They germinate very quickly and you lose them."
"The chance of taking a seed like this intact and placing it in a tube to germinate will result in a 100% healthy seedling. But if I take the plant and put it in the tube, I reduce that chance to 50% of survival."
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"The plastic bag strategy didn’t work very well due to terrain difficulties. Sometimes the area was too far to reach, which made it harder, and the tube system helped us move forward.
Soil drilling also became easier with the tubes. Before, you had to dig a very large hole to place the bag; now you just make a small hole for the tube seedling.
That also helped us."
Cíntia Valentim, nurseryman
"These tubes are reusable. After the seedlings are taken for planting, we reuse them, bring them back to the nursery, and plant new seeds.
If it were plastic bags, it would be too heavy for those working in the field to carry. Tubes make it easier to transport seedlings to the field.
This tray holds 54 tubes."
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"There are various species here in the nursery. There’s rambutan, which is a fruit from our region.
There are also native plants such as cumaru and andiroba, which we will plant in degraded areas."
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"This seedling here is cupuaçu. This one still has new leaves.
Here it already has larger leaves; it’s developing."
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"The project came with a proposal for ecological restoration in our reserve. Here we saw a way to help by setting up this nursery."
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Jovenilson Souza “Tico”, nurseryman
"We plant in an alternating pattern: one fruit species and one native species.
For example, I planted an andiroba here. Then I’ll plant cacao.
Next, I’ll plant itaúba. Then cupuaçu, to have two types of production in one row.
One production that takes more than 30 years to harvest, and another that you can harvest in about 3 to 4 years.
With cupuaçu or biribá, you’ll be harvesting rambutan."
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"In my area, I aim for both productivity and native timber species that are becoming scarce, such as itaúba, rosewood, copaíba, and andiroba, which are no longer easy to find.
Most of my choices were native species."
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"In addition to many seed shells, we can find seeds. We identified them. We take the phone and open the app again.
It traces the path we’ve taken. I click on the point where I am.
I access the camera again. Usually, I take the first photo of the mother tree.
Here I can describe it as a caramuri tree and record its location."
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"We walk through the forest looking for logs that have been dead for a long time. This one has been here for more than eight years, I think.
It’s fallen here. We test it.
It has to be like this, turning into a kind of mass.
There’s no soil here, just decomposing wood. That means it’s at the right point for collection.
I take it home, leave it there for two or three days, exposed to rain and sun. Then we spread it out.
We sift it to break it down manually so it can fit better into the tubes. Then we start filling the tubes.
This substrate makes planting easier, allows the plant to absorb nutrients faster, and retains moisture well.
That moisture retention is a great advantage for us."
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"These here are the preparatory stages of the seedlings. This is the seed stage.
When we bring seeds from the forest, they are placed here. We fill the tubes and place them here.
These are apuruí seedlings; they take about three months to start germinating.
Some are already beginning to sprout. These are cupuaçu seedlings.
Cupuaçu takes from 15 days to one month to begin germinating.
After that, they spend another month growing before being moved to the next stage, which we call hardening.
This helps the roots strengthen and anchor in the tube.
Here we have cumaru, jatobá, and tento seedlings.
We have biribá, itaúba, and more biribá.
There’s a lot of biribá; people chose it a lot.
We also have cacao seedlings.
Jatobá has become a main focus in the reserve.
This is green açaí.
We have coffee; finding coffee seeds was a challenge.
We managed to get one tray with great effort.
We also have balsa wood, which was requested.
Soursop seedlings, cedar, mahogany cedar.
Bacaba as well.
Also highly requested are rambutan and cupuaçu.
People are asking for them for their agroforestry systems."
“Jango” Matos Azevedo, nurseryman
"There’s samaúma, rubber tree, jatobá.
There’s peach palm. I think there’s cacao."
Did you choose them?
"Yes."
Why did you choose these?
"Because it’s hard to find these plants here, like samaúma and jatobá.
Some rubber trees are also difficult to find.
It was important because this used to be a farm. There was nothing here.
It was all cleared land. I joined the group because there was nothing, just forest.
When Reflora appeared, I came with my brother, and they came here to see the area.
The land was allocated for planting."
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Ananda Matos, forest engineer – Reflora Project
"The Reflora project operates in the Puranga Conquista RDS with productive ecological restoration, using different planting techniques, including enrichment areas and agroforestry systems.
An agroforestry system is when we combine agricultural, fruit, and forest species, producing short-term crops, medium-term fruit, and long-term timber.
In enrichment areas, such as these secondary forests, we plant in strips or clusters. In Jango’s case, we used strip planting, aligned east-west so that all seedlings receive sunlight throughout the day.
This area used to be a farm over 20 years ago, and restoration began last year.
We already see peach palm, cupuaçu, cumaru, rubber tree, andiroba, and cedar growing.
In more shaded areas, we plant species that prefer shade, such as itaúba, a key species for restoration.
We alternate fruit and timber species, adjusting according to sunlight conditions to minimize seedling mortality.
Planting is done during the rainy season so species can establish before the dry period.
At Tico’s site, we implemented a 5 by 8 spacing system—8 meters between rows and 5 between plants—to avoid overcrowding and competition over time."
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Jovenilson Souza “Tico”, nurseryman
"We’ve seen significant changes, even in how people perceive the project.
At first, people think someone is coming to teach what they already know, but it’s not that.
It’s an organized planting system for higher productivity.
We’ve always planted, but not in an ordered way, which resulted in low productivity.
Now productivity is higher, management is easier, and it’s less harmful to the environment than traditional methods."
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Cíntia Valentim, nurseryman
"The ecological restoration project is very important for our community.
We’ve learned much more about restoration and also about income generation.
There are four nurseries in the RDS, all operating under the Reflora project.
We are valuing our culture of planting native fruit species and preserving these seeds."
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Ananda Matos, forest engineer – Reflora Project
"The most requested species were itaúba, preciosa, roxinho, copaíba, jatobá, and cumaru.
These are mainly timber species. Interestingly, many residents had never seen itaúba seeds before; the project introduced them.
Most species were chosen by the community based on their needs.
They recall that these species were once common but are now scarce.
Reflora sourced them to restore the vegetation."
“Jango” Matos Azevedo, nurseryman
"It’s difficult to find these plants here.
We will keep producing and planting more in other areas."
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Jovenilson Souza “Tico”, nurseryman
"As someone receiving the project, I hope these plants will be producing at all scales within 10 years.
Some will yield in 3–4 years, others in 10 years.
As someone helping implement the project, I hope people continue what was started."
Cíntia Valentim, nurseryman
"Before, we grew cassava to make flour.
Now we’ve learned more productive methods and vegetable cultivation.
This is generating income for us."
Ananda Matos, forest engineer – Reflora Project
"When you look at this vegetation, you see it is degraded.
The project aims to restore diversity, creating both productive and ecological restoration."
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