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BUILDING INSTITUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ACRE, BRAZIL
Marianne Schmink
Center for Latin American Studies
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida 32611
June 1990
To appear in Kent H. Redford and Christine Padoch (eds.), Traditional Resource
Use in Neotropical Forests: Past, Present and Future. New York: Columbia
University Press, forthcoming.
Building Institutions for Sustainable Development in Acre, Brazil
Marianne Schmink
In 1986, the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) and the University of
Florida (UF) began a program of technical cooperation focusing on. ecological,
social and economic aspects of forest extraction, agroforestry and agricultural
systems used by rubber tappers and settlers in the state of Acre. The
collaborative project sought to strengthen the technical capacity of UF, UFAC
and other local and national institutions through a research and training
program based on the methodology of "adaptive research". The core objective
of the program was to explore means to increase the income of local small
producers and to reduce pressures on the resource base and on biological
diversity. The multidisciplinary, inter-institutional project sought to
contribute to the formulation of sustainable policies for agroforestry and
agricultural development, emphasizing the rational use and conservation of
natural resources.
The concept of sustainability has the virtue of drawing attention to the
complex conditions under which socioeconomic and environmental change
take place over the long term. Beyond these general notions, however, there
is little consensus regarding the precise time-frame, measures, and practical
requirements for sustainability. Many definitions focus on technical
production criteria for sustained yield harvests or on economic sustainability
as measured by supply-demand and market projections. Broader questions of
social and political sustainability, and of strategies to institutionalize
sustainable development alternatives, are also essential determinants of the
long-term success of technical and economic planning. Addressing these
institutional issues requires the integration of insights from the natural and
social sciences, with the technical focus that has dominated the development
field for the past few decades. The UF-UFAC project is designed to build a
coherent institutional strategy within which technical, social, and political
issues can be addressed over the long-term.
Sustainable development requires a favorable social, political and
economic environment, including the organizational mechanisms to support
the design, experimentation and implementation of appropriate practices.
Building these institutions is a time-consuming and elusive process, and there
are few models. Just as technical solutions must be adapted to each specific
site, strategies for institutional change are necessarily unique to local
settings. One of the key potential contributions from social science to the
conservation and development field is in the analysis of local responses (by
specific social groups in particular ecosystems) to macro-level economic and
political changes.
The experience of the UF-UFAC project in Acre provides lessons in
institution-building strategies that may be useful elsewhere. First, the Acre
project is grounded in an on-going analysis of how political and economic
processes influence resource use. This "political ecology" approach provided a
framework for adapting institutional strategies to changing political and
economic circumstances (Schmink & Wood, 1986).
Second, the project promoted an integrated approach to development
and conservation problems. The project experimented with mechanisms to
bring together the resources of local institutions, and with inter-disciplinary,
participatory methods of research and extension. It drew on the expertise of a
network of specialists from Brazil and the U.S. The "adaptive research"
methodology (described below) brought together researchers and
extensionists from different disciplines in a formal, structured dialogue with
producers that provided a common reference point for reaching a consensus
about priority problems and potential solutions. Technicians who participated
in the training program formed an inter-institutional group capable of
coordinating a common research, action and policy agenda. This capacity was
enhanced as several project participants moved into key decision-making
positions in local governmental and non-governmental agencies.
Definition of a common set of goals, and an integrated, participatory
work philosophy shared by representatives of a dozen organizations involved
in development and conservation work in Acre, are key accomplishments of
the project so far. Another is the newly-created interest group composed of
project participants, who can orient their various organizations in the
direction of more effective collaboration in work with small producers in
Acre. This group, representing public, private, and research sectors in Acre
and their collaborators elsewhere, is in a position to adapt to changing
opportunities and limitations and to build a sustained institutional effort on
behalf -of Acre's natural resource base and the small producers that depend on
it.
The Political Ecology of Acre V
Many of the factors that influence land use practices lie outside the
control, or even the knowledge, of local producers who are part of an
increasingly integrated global system. The analysis of the interface between
the macro-level political and economic context and specific ecological systems
and local populations is therefore an essential complement to the focus on
individual producers. Even apparently well-conceived plans for sustainable
development often go wrong for reasons related to macro-level political and
economic realities and their penetration at the local level. The goals of
resource conservation and sustainable development are fundamentally at odds
with most post-war nationalistic development projects oriented to expanded
production and short-term capital accumulation. Ecological disasters also are
often political and economic successes for those in power and their
constituencies, which helps clarify why apparently "irrational" policies
continue to be implemented (Schmink, 1987).
Understanding the political and economic context of ecological change
requires going beyond the technocratic model often used in development and
conservation circles, or a pluralistic conception of the state as neutral arbiter
of competing interests. Actions by the state (including planning and
administrative agencies, legislative bodies, the courts, the military and police)
tend to favor the interests of the economically dominant social classes. But
different agencies and levels of the state apparatus have distinct agendas and
constituencies. The analysis of such political dynamics, and of the changing
configuration of state policies and practices, provide a stronger basis for
pragmatic approaches to institutional change. Such approaches can seek to
shift the balance of power in the direction of relatively disadvantaged groups
within society (Esman & Uphoff, 1985).
Brazil stands out as a country whose impressive post-war economic
growth was accompanied by environmental degradation and persistent
maldistribution of wealth. Capitalist investors were favored over the small
producers who typically bore the brunt of development policies. Amazon
development initiatives such as expansion of cattle ranching, hydroelectric
power plants, and charcoal-based processing of minerals typically benefitted
investors from outside the Amazon region, at the. expense of local economies
and ecosystems. At times, particularly under the military dictatorship that
held power from 1964-1985, the armed forces pursued their own agenda even
at the expense of the economic elites who were their main source of political
support. But since a civilian government took over in 1985, pressures for
reform have mounted, and a more open political system has forced the state to
respond to broader constituencies.
One of those new constituencies is the population of rubber tappers who
inhabit the forested areas of the western Amazon state of Acre. Their
remarkable political mobilization emerged in response to the local effects of
federal Amazon development programs. After a decade of local organizing
efforts, in the mid-1980s the movement gained the support of national and
international non-governmental organizations, and the rubber tappers
embarked on a successful campaign to convince the federal government to
create extractivee reserves", areas set aside for continued small-scale
extraction. Small producers, especially the organized rubber tappers, have
also gained greater access to resources and decision-making process in Acre's
state government. Analysis of the historical factors leading to this favorable
institutional environment highlights the interactions between world markets,
federal policies, migration, political organization, and local resource use
(Alegretti, 1979; CEDEPLAR, 1979; Martinello, 1988; Oliveira, 1985; Schwartzman,
1989).
Located on Brazil's western border with Bolivia and Peru, the settlement
of Acre by non-indigenous peoples began a century ago, stimulated by the
boom (1850-1920) in extraction of natural rubber for world markets. The
region's indigenous groups were also absorbed into the rubber trade. Tens of
thousands of migrants entered Acre as rubber tappers. At the time the
territory belonged to Bolivia, but after a series of conflicts it was purchased by
Brazil in 1903. A second wave of migrants were recruited during World War
II, mostly from Northeastern Brazil with U.S. financing. Acre's culture is
strongly dominated by the Northeastern origins of the majority of its
population.
The rubber tappers traditionally lived an isolated existence dispersed
among the distant colocag6es homesteads where each tapper extracted rubber
from trees situated along trails through the forest. At the end of each day the
tappers smoked the rubber until it formed large balls that were sold at the
trading post. The economic system was dominated by the supply and credit
system known as aviamento which maintained the rubber tappers in
constant debt to the trading posts, which were controlled by the owner of the
large rubber estates known as seringais The tappers also paid rent to the
owners for the right to tap the latex along the rubber trails on their land. The
rubber economy was entirely oriented to export, and the large export houses
in the cities of Bel6m and Manaus captured the profits from the rubber trade
and the aviamento system. The producers themselves were often prohibited
from engaging in subsistence activities so as not to distract them from rubber
tapping, and to maintain their dependence on the trading post.
The success of Asian rubber plantations beginning in 1911-1912 spelled
the end of the boom in Amazonian natural rubber, with the exception of the
short-lived war effort financed by the U.S. when Japan blocked access to Asian
rubber sources during World War II. With the decline of rubber, Acre's
economy gradually diversified to include collection of Brazil nuts, and
subsistence agriculture, fishing and hunting. After World War II, many
rubber estate owners found themselves unable to repay the credit they had
received under the special wartime programs. As a further threat to the
traditional system, rising inflation in the 1950s and 1960s undermined the
viability of the aviamento system, which depended on credit extended over
long periods. During this period, rubber tappers in many areas became more
autonomous as their erstwhile patrons went bankrupt or moved on to other
activities.
The territory of Acre was elevated to statehood in 1962. The beginnings
of federal investment in the region led to the growth of towns and new
economic opportunities that attracted rural elites away from the declining
rubber estates. More drastic changes began to take place in the 1970s,
stimulated by ambitious federal programs in the Amazon under the military
government that took power in Brazil in 1964. A road link was established
between Acre and the capital in Brasilia in the late 1960s, and the land along
its borders was transferred to federal jurisdiction in 1971. During the early
1970s, Acre's governor took advantage of the euphoria surrounding the
Transamazon highway colonization effort and other federal initiatives to open
up Acre's lands for sale to southern investors. The newly-created Amazon
Bank (BASA) provided easy credit for new investments in agriculture and
ranching, displacing previous support for rubber and other forest products.
Land turned over rapidly as indebted owners of rubber estates sold their rights
to outsiders. As elsewhere in the Amazon, land sales soon led to legal confusion
since titles had been issued in Acre by many different authorities throughout
the region's history: the state of Amazonas, Bolivia, the short-lived
independent republic of Acre under PlAcido de Castro, and the federal land
agency INCRA. Conflicting claims to title covered an area half again larger
than the whole state.
While the state's lands changed hands, however, the rubber tappers.
who occupied them remained in the forests, where they continued to tap
rubber, collect Brazil nuts, hunt, fish, and cultivate their subsistence gardens.
Most of Acre's new landowners were interested in establishing cattle ranches,
an enterprise that requires relatively little productive investment and for
which credit was readily available. Their first task was to rid the land of the
rubber tappers that occupied it, either by buying the rights to their modest
homesteads, by threats or by outright violent expulsion. Many tappers who
had little experience with money and few employment alternatives were
tempted to sell and move to town, where they quickly found they had few skills
to make a living.
By the mid-1970s, many tappers had drifted back to the rural areas and,
along with those who remained in the forest, began to organize through local
unions. Their movement sought to defend the legal rights they had acquired,
through long-term residence and use, to occupy the rubber trails. They
developed non-violent tactics to prevent the new landowners from clearing
land, such as empates or "stand-offs", in which whole communities camped in
front of bulldozers. They also sought to provide literacy and basic arithmetic
skills, health care, and marketing alternatives that would increase the rubber
tappers' autonomy from merchant intermediaries. The success of the tappers'
resistance movement led to violence against its leaders: among others, Wilson
Pinheiro (head of the union in Brasileia) was killed in 1980, and Chico Mendes
(head of the union in Xapuri) was murdered in 1988.
By the late 1980s, the rubber tappers movement began to receive
international attention due to links between local, national, and international
non-governmental organizations concerned with environmental protection
and human rights (Schwartzman, 1989). Environmental groups in the U.S. and
Europe had begun to pressure the multilateral development banks to pay
serious attention to the environmental impact of the projects they financed.
One of the key targets of criticism was World Bank-financed colonization in
the neighboring state of Rond6nia. The existence of an organized local
constituency provided an important argument against the extension of road-
paving and colonization efforts beyond Rond6nia's border into Acre. The
movement gained in strength with this international support. The formation
of the National Council of Rubber Tappers broadened the movement beyond
Acre's borders, and links were formed with organizations of indigenous
peoples. The prizes awarded to Chico Mendes in 1987 by the United Nations and
the Future Worlds Society lent legitimacy and visibility to their struggle.
A new governor of Acre, elected in 1987, responded to this changing
political scenario by declaring his intention to pursue "forest-based
development" for the state. He created new state agencies concerned with
environmental protection and with alternative technologies oriented to forest
products. Their efforts range from large-scale sustained yield commercial
harvesting of tropical hardwoods, to modernizing the logging industry, to
implementating extractive reserves in the state.
The Challenge for Acre's Institutions
Grass-roots pressure linked to local and international support networks
has helped to counterbalance the pressures leading to further forest
conversion for less sustainable and equitable land uses (such as cattle
ranching) in Acre. Their impact on both federal and state policies has created
a more favorable institutional setting for experimentation with sustainable
resource use systems appropriate for small producers. As dramatic political
and economic changes continue in Brazil, putting these alternatives into
practice still poses enormous organizational, technical and political
challenges. Not the least of these pressures is the continuing opposition by
the regional landholding elites to the extractive reserves and other alternative
land-use proposals (Schwartzman, 1989).
The tremendous technical problems are most evident in Acre's newly-
created extractive reserves. Although rubber tappers have occupied the state
for decades, current pressures on their production systems -have led to a
greater tendency towards forest clearing for agricultural and animal
production. The tappers lack schools and basic health services, as well as
technical assistance. The challenge is to increase and diversify forest
productivity in sustainable ways, and to improve the marketing and
processing systems so that forest producers are able to earn more and raise
their standard of living.
The success of the extractive reserves in Acre will depend not only on
resolving these internal problems, but also on the changes beyond their
borders. The paving of the BR-364 highway from Porto Velho (Rond6nia) to
Rio Branco (the capital of Acre), now underway, will increase pressure on
land and other natural resources. Development initiatives oriented to road-
building and occupation by ranchers and farmers from outside the state
threaten to increase deforestation, with ominous consequences for the local
flora and fauna in an area of high biological diversity. This change in the
state's productive base undermines the principal sources of survival for the
rubber tappers (both inside and outside the reserves), traditional agricultural
colonists, and indigenous communities. The whole range of land uses,
competing interests, and multiple goals will affect the future of forest-based
alternatives now being considered.
The diversity and complexity of these production systems, and the
pressures they suffer, call for a comprehensive institutional approach that
addresses the whole context. The implementation of both ecologically and
socioeconomically sustainable development alternatives adapted to the
situation in Acre will depend in part on the long-term capability of local
organizations to monitor and influence the direction of development efforts.
This means addressing both technical and political issues, and strengthening
the potential collaboration between grass-roots organizations, non-
governmental support groups, research and teaching institutions, and
government planning and extension agencies.
The UF-UFAC collaborative project sought to build on the underutilized
resources of the universities to coordinate inter-institutional efforts to address
the technical problems in implementing sustainable development for Acre's
small producers. Like other organizations devoted to research and teaching,
universities have participated little in the planning and implementation of
Amazonian development projects. Yet because of their academic function,
universities are an appropriate forum for discussion and experimentation
with alternative technologies. Their quasi-governmental status also makes
them more stable than most local non-governmental organizations, yet
relatively removed from local political factors that constrain state agencies.
Historically, Amazonian institutions have had a relatively weak role in
shaping regional development processes. Most of the important economic
decisions concerning Acre and other Amazonian areas have been made by
national or international agents whose interests often run counter to the
needs of the local population. The current institutional environment in Acre
offers some promise of changing this pattern.
A network of local, national and international non-governmental
organizations currently provides technical assistance and support to the
movement organizations such as local unions and the National Council of
Rubber Tappers. These NGOs also represent the interests of local small
producers in negotiations with government and donor agencies. They are a
crucial vehicle for participation by local populations in decisions about
resource use.
The continued mobilization of local populations and of adequate
resources to support their efforts is the most urgent element in assuring
continued support for alternative development strategies now being proposed
in Acre. Grass-roots political pressure is key to a continuing dialogue between
government and local populations, especially in a country where
environmental politics are not yet institutionalized.
The responsiveness of public sector agencies is not only a political but
also a technical issue, since Brazil's agriculture and forestry research and
extension agencies have not developed programs to respond to the needs of
small producers. The UF-UFAC Collaborative project sought to build that
technical capacity among researchers and extensionists from Acre's agrarian
sector agencies. Their collective work would contribute to the prospects for
success in addressing the state's development problems over the long run.
The UF-UFAC Collaborative Project
During the initial two-year period (1986-1987) of reciprocal visits by UF
and UFAC faculty and administrators, the two universities formed
multidisciplinary groups of faculty and (in the case of UF) graduate students
and defined a set of common goals. These were to:
1) analyze small-scale, family systems of production in Acre, the
limitations they confront and the interrelations among members of the
household, crops, animals, forest products, the market, and the institutional
environment;
2) combine the methods of social, bio-physical and agro-economic
sciences to identify and solve urgent problems of small-scale production under
conditions of limited resources;
3) improve institutional and administrative relations and their potential
impact on agrarian policies, infrastructure, and sustainable development in
Acre;
4) apply the adaptive research approach to the creation and
development of a program to generate, validate and disseminate scale-specific
technology for long-term resource management by small farmers and rubber
tappers; and
5) synthesize and disseminate the results of the program to a broader
audience of researchers, policy-makers, and the public in Acre, in Brazil, and
in other tropical countries.
Once the inter-university linkage was cemented through substantive
discussions and a formal exchange agreement, a planning grant from the Ford
Foundation permitted the UFAC and the UF to broaden their ties to other
institutions in the U.S., and in Brazil, especially in Acre. The UF provided a
channel for exchanges with institutions and funding agencies outside Brazil.
In Acre, governmental and non-governmental, agencies that work with small
farmers, rubber tappers, and Indians participated in a two-day seminar to
discuss the proposals of the two universities. This meeting laid the foundation
for the participation by representatives of a dozen federal, state and private
agencies in the training and research phase of the project.
At the outset, project participants focused on two principal groups of
small producers in Acre. The large number of rubber tappers who inhabit the
region, with their profound knowledge of the Amazonian forest, are central to
the project. Rubber tappers exploit rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and Brazil
nuts (Bertholetia excelsa), both products of great importance to Acre's
economy. They also exploit many other forest products. It is the contention of
this work and the object of UF-UFAC collaboration that proper technical
assistance, the economic viability of their traditional activities can improve
without irreversibly altering the environment.
A second target of interest to the project is small agricultural producers,
comprised of former rubber tappers from Acre and migrants from other
regions of the country. With the paving of the BR-364 highway from Porto
Velho to Rio Branco, the number of small farmers is sure to increase.
Population growth creates an urgent need to identify and encourage
sustainable and environmentally sound agricultural practices. Such methods
must be developed, not with ideal conditions in mind, but rather based on a
realistic assessment of the constraints small farmers confront in the region.
The Training Strategy
The primary activity of the UFAC-UF collaborative project was training
of the inter-institutional group (later named "PESACRE") during two short
courses, in 1988 and 1989, with the support of grants from the Ford Foundation.
Participants included specialists in agronomy, soils, forestry, biology,
economics, sociology, anthropology, geography, education, statistics,
chemistry, and physics. They represented seventeen institutions, including
universities in Acre, Amazonas and Florida; non-governmental organizations;
state agriculture, forestry and environment agencies; and local branches of
federal or regional agricultural research and extension agencies and those in
charge of colonization and environmental protection. The participating
institutions have mandates in areas of teaching, research, extension,
agricultural settlement, community development, environmental protection
and Indian affairs. The UF trainers (an anthropologist, an agricultural
economist and an agronomist), developed the courses with the support of the
UF's International Training Division and produced a Portuguese-language
manual based on farming systems research and extension training materials
(Hildebrand et al., 1989). Several members of the PESACRE group participated
as trainers during the second course. The UFAC handled local arrangements.
The adaptive research approach presented in the courses was a modified
version of farming systems research and extension (FSR/E), with a strong
emphasis on environmental protection and natural resource management.
FSR/E is a multidisciplinary method that joins research and extension in a
common effort to develop appropriate technologies (Hildebrand, 1986).
Producers are integrated with researchers and extension agents in a
systematic procedure to identify and resolve problems. Multidisciplinary
teams are composed of personnel from different research and extension
institutions, who work with producers to identify problems and limitations and
then to create, adapt and test specially designed solutions.
The teams use rapid surveys (called sondeios in Portuguese) to identify
existing problems and limitations on small farms or rubber trails. The
producers are incorporated into a sequence of activities that formulate and test
solutions, in the producers' own fields as well as on experiment stations. Close
contact is maintained with producers, and the activities of research and
extension are integrated instead of separated. As a result, communication
problems are reduced and the gap between problem identification and
technology adoption is minimized. In this way, the method incorporates the
adaptation, learning and diffusion by the "client" population, steps that have
always been very important for innovation and change in agricultural
technology. Participation by representatives from key institutions also
provides a direct link to planning and infrastructural development.
The two-week course in 1988 covered FSR/E diagnostic methods whereas
the second three-week course provided a complete sequence including
diagnosis, design and analysis of on-farm or on-site experimentation. The 34
course participants in 1988 and 41 in 1989 included four UF graduate students
who developed their own research projects based on the course. Other
research and extension project proposals emerged from the discussions of
priorities by the PESACRE group during and after the two training courses.
Interviews with producers using the sondeio method provided the
material for the diagnosis of key problems. Seven producers, including two
tribal Indians, were invited to the training site in 1988 to provide information
about their production systems as the basis for training in interviewing and
modelling systems. During both years, course participants carried out three-
day sondeios with agricultural settlers and rubber tappers. A total of 112
settlers were interviewed in two colonization areas near Rio Branco. The
diagnosis of settler systems indicated that colonists who had previously lived
in Acre as rubber tappers used the forest resources on their lots more
intensively than did the migrants.
During the same period the group interviewed 30 rubber tappers
dispersed in five different areas near the towns of PlAcido de Castro and
Xapuri. The rubber tapper diagnosis yielded significant insights into the
differences between these two regions. In both 1988 and 1989, course
participants produced written diagnostic reports with conclusions and
recommendations for both groups of producers (PESACRE, 1988; 1989a; 1989b).
Diagnosis
Settlers
Interviews with settlers showed that planning and implementation of
the colonization projects was carried out without due consideration of the
area's natural resource potential. The project failed to take advantage of the
empirical knowledge of the rubber tappers who were already living in the
colonization areas. In contrast to the rubber tappers, the majority of the
settlers came from other regions of Brazil and lacked knowledge of the
potential of the natural resources and how to use them rationally. Moreover,
technical knowledge to indicate areas appropriate for colonization was not
derived from field studies This led to deforestation of areas rich in Brazil nut
trees and rubber trees for agricultural purposes, despite their low soil fertility
and poor water resources.
tribal Indians, were invited to the training site in 1988 to provide information
about their production systems as the basis for training in interviewing and
modelling systems. During both years, course participants carried out three-
day sondeios with agricultural settlers and rubber tappers. A total of 112
settlers were interviewed in two colonization areas near Rio Branco. The
diagnosis of settler systems indicated that colonists who had previously lived
in Acre as rubber tappers used the forest resources on their lots more
intensively than did the migrants.
During the same period the group interviewed 30 rubber tappers
dispersed in five different areas near the towns of PlAcido de Castro and
Xapuri. The rubber tapper diagnosis yielded significant insights into the
differences between these two regions. In both 1988 and 1989, course
participants produced written diagnostic reports with conclusions and
recommendations for both groups of producers (PESACRE, 1988; 1989a; 1989b).
Diagnosis
Settlers
Interviews with settlers showed that planning and implementation of
the colonization projects was carried out without due consideration of the
area's natural resource potential. The project failed to take advantage of the
empirical knowledge of the rubber tappers who were already living in the
colonization areas. In contrast to the rubber tappers, the majority of the
settlers came from other regions of Brazil and lacked knowledge of the
potential of the natural resources and how to use them rationally. Moreover,
technical knowledge to indicate areas appropriate for colonization was not
derived from field studies This led to deforestation of areas rich in Brazil nut
trees and rubber trees for agricultural purposes, despite their low soil fertility
and poor water resources.
The production systems used by these settlers are based on cutting and
burning the forest and planting rice, corn, beans, cassava and different fruit
trees. However, many of these settlers do not remain in the areas they initially
colonized, since their production systems are not sustainable. The instability of
the production systems is usually a result of inadequate use and management
of natural resources, leading to general environmental degradation.
A host of problems undermine the economic potential of colonists'
agricultural production. Most of the agricultural products are harvested
during and at the end of the rainy season when unpaved roads do not permit
access to markets. The lack of on-site storage facilities reduces the quality and
value of the products. In many instances, production costs and the end price of
the products place these small farmers at a distinct economic disadvantage.
Yield declines, either as a consequence of changes in soil fertility or increased
weed infestation, the lack of technology, extension and inputs (seeds,
fertilizers, pesticides and equipment) increase the vulnerability of these small
farmers to the prevailing economic forces. Other factors limiting the
activities that could be developed by the settlers include the lack of water
sources or its poor distribution in the property, and the poor quality of the
public health services.
The small farmers understand the fragility of their production systems
and hope to base their activities on crops (such as coffee, cocoa, black pepper
and sugarcane) and cattle (as a source of protein and as savings for
emergencies) which demand less labor once established and have more value
in the market. Once accomplished, this would result in more stable production
systems that could guarantee enough income.
The expansion of the areas with these crops and with pastures is a reality
in the colonization projects in Acre. Pasture establishment in areas formerly
used for agricultural purposes is also a means of increasing the sales value of
the land. The migration of the small farmers in search of new forest areas or
to the urban areas (where they live in slums), once the natural resources are
exhausted, and the high rate of land turnover reflect the results of this
sequence of conversion from forest to agriculture to pasture.
Despite the problems mentioned above, there is an increase in
agricultural production on the colonization projects, and some small farmers
have managed to consolidate their holdings. Among the settlers who still
remain in their areas, property is seen as a means to guarantee the family's
future. They believe that despite their difficult living conditions, they would
not be able to guarantee the same standard of living in the city. There, they
would necessarily depend on a salary which, besides being difficult to obtain,
is not enough for the family's survival. On their properties, even under the
worst of conditions, they are able to feed their families.
Rubber Tappers
The extraction of rubber and Brazil nuts from the natural forest
provides most of the income for rubber tappers in this region of Acre. In
addition, they make use of a variety of other natural forest products, cultivate
small swidden subsistence plots, and raise domestic animals for their own use.
Some rubber tappers have begun to expand their cattle herds and pastures.
The productive unit of the native rubber tapping system, the colocagdo
is measured not by land area but in accordance with the distribution of the
looping trails through the forest along which the rubber trees are distributed.
A tapper family exploits an average of three trails, with about 150-200 rubber
trees each, from which liquid latex is extracted on a daily basis during the
drier season from April through December. Tapping and processing rubber
requires 9-10 hours per day of the adult male members of the family. During
January and February, men devote most of their time to the collection of Brazil
nuts if they are abundant within their colocaCgo. These two products provide
nearly all of the family's cash income. Women and children are responsible
for the care of domestic animals and help with most phases of production and
processing of maize, rice, beans, cassava, and fruits used by the family.
Compared with the small farm systems of the settlers, the rubber
tapping systems of production provide a relatively stable subsistence and have
a far less drastic impact on the natural environment. However, rubber tapping
systems are also undergoing change due to development pressures. Common
problems face the rubber tapper families in the five areas where fieldwork
was carried out, but the potential for resolving these problems depends to a
great extent on institutional factors.
The isolation of the tappers settled in small clearings several hours
distant from one another presents formidable problems of transportation,
marketing, and access to services. Growing pressures on the natural resource
base and uncertainty regarding land tenure have tended to undermine the
stability of the natural forest extraction practiced over decades. Finally, the
dependence of most rubber tapper families on the sale of rubber and Brazil
nuts as their sole source of monetary income will become increasingly
untenable as new plantations of both products within Brazil enter the market
in the near future.
Despite these difficulties, the rubber tapper system of production is
remarkably stable compared to other land uses in the state. The impact on
forest resources has been minimal and selective. Rubber tapper families are
closely tied through informal kin and non-kin cooperation and show little
disposition to move on to other activities. Instead, they seek to diversity their
production systems and improve their productivity in order to remain as forest
production systems and improve their productivity in order to remain as forest
dwellers without undue dependence on the market for their subsistence needs.
Their possibilities for achieving these goals depend on the potential for
resolving the problems of land tenure, marketing, access to technical
assistance and other services through increased autonomy and internal
organization. The degree of autonomy from landowners and intermediaries,
and the extent of political organization, determine significant differences
among current systems of natural forest rubber tapping.
Tappers located near Xapuri, where most tappers have been free of
domination by patrons for some time and where political organization is
particularly strong, have begun to address some of the most important
constraints to improving productivity and sustainability. With the support of
non-governmental organizations they have constructed a number of schools
in remote areas, which provide basic literacy and arithmetic skills that allow
the tappers and their families to defend themselves in market transactions and
other interactions (Campbell, 1990). The schools also provide an important
focus of community activity and a meeting place for political discussions.
Their presence helps to stabilize a population of young people who would
otherwise move elsewhere because of the lack of schools. In contrast, there
are no schools in the rubber areas close to Plicido de Castro, where political
organization is weaker, and tapper families must send their children to nearby
towns to study.
Near Plhcido de Castro, the rubber tappers still depend to varying
degrees on trading post owners or other intermediaries, sometimes referred to.
as patrons, for transport of their rubber and other goods and for provisions.
Only those fortunate enough to be located close to a road can choose with
whom to trade, and can purchase what they need in the nearby town. Because
the traders control transportation and prices, the producers have responded
by expanding their subsistence activities in order to avoid market dependence.
By contrast, the rubber tapper movement near Xapuri recently founded a
cooperative that purchases rubber, Brazil nuts and other products from
producers at a better price, and provides transport at cost between central
warehousing points and isolated colocag6es The cooperative also sells basic
provisions at a lower cost to its members. As a result, other traders in this area
have adjusted their own prices in order to compete.
The sustainability of the rubber tapper system depends on finding ways
to improve productivity while maintaining a functioning natural ecosystem.
Development of technologies and market strategies to exploit a wider range of
forest products on a sustained-yield basis requires a long-term research and
extension effort in collaboration with the people who know and live in the
forest. Assurance of current land rights and of those of future generations are
a prerequisite for such a project. In response to immediate market pressures
and to the uncertainty of their future as rubber tappers, producers sometimes
knowingly overexploit rubber trees or produce lower quality rubber through
less time-consuming processing methods. In politically organized areas,
especially those set aside as extractive settlements, however, the population
has begun to impose its own regulations on rubber extraction and processing;
clearing for pasture and along watercourses; extraction of timber for sale or
cutting of fruit trees for fruit; and hunting with dogs or for more than
subsistence needs. Tappers also protect useful trees in the forest, along rubber
trails, and near clearings, and experiment with transplanting local species in
abandoned fallows. These innovations, and the local organizations that have
supported them, provide the potential for future research and extension
efforts.
The Research and Extension Strategy
The diagnosis carried out by the PESACRE group indicated the dynamic
character of local small production system. The evident diversity and change
underscored the need to build long-term problem-solving capabilities. The
research revealed the lack of cooperation among local institutions as one of
the main factors limiting the capacity to develop a process of planning
rational policies for agricultural and agroforestry development in the state of
Acre. This suggested the need not only to strengthen the institutions, but also
to intensify the cooperative nature of activities in search of sustainable
agroforestry and agricultural systems adapted to the soil and climatic
conditions of Acre.
Priorities for these cooperative actions included: a) study of sustainable
agroforestry and agricultural systems aimed at recovering degraded areas; b)
development of rational methods of use and management of natural resources;
c) study of methods of pest and disease control for the main annual, perennial
and horticultural crops in the field and during storage; d) study of the
economic potential of native plants and animals; e) development of
mechanisms aimed at strengthening rural communities; f) adaptation of
education techniques and school calendars according to the activities of small
farmers and rubber tappers; and g) recuperation and study of the culture of
rubber tappers.
As a result of the diagnostic reports, several research and extension
projects were initiated in 1988 and 1989 by members of the PESACRE group and
by graduate students from the UF. A small "seed money" fund from the Ford
Foundation supported preliminary research, and local institutions contributed
their human resources and infrastructures. Some studies have already been
concluded and the results made available for future applied work (Campbell,
1989; 1990).
PESACRE group members have also begun to integrate the goals and
philosophy of the project's work with low-resource producers into their own
organizations' programs. By the end of 1989, group members had taken
positions as President of the Workers' Center (CTA a key NGO supporting the
rubber tappers movement) and as Chairman of the Agrarian Sciences
department at the UFAC. Other active group members held responsible
positions in local offices of national and regional research organizations,
EMBRAPA and INPA.
In 1990, UFAC project coordinator Mdncio Lima Cordeiro was named
Secretary for Agrarian Development of the state of Acre. He named several
PESACRE group members to chief advisory positions, including technical
director for state agricultural extension services. The Secretariat's work
program focused on small producers, including rubber tappers, farmers and
native groups, with an emphasis on participatory research and extension
activities. Many of the specific proposals built on the diagnostic work already
carried out by the PESACRE group. In keeping with the goal of building inter-
institutional cooperation, the Secretariat's programs are to be implemented
through formal cooperative agreements with the research institutions
(university, EMBRAPA, INPA), with NGOs and with producer associations.
The proposals of Acre's state agricultural secretariat provided an
opportunity to orient PESACRE activities to a new emphasis on activities state-
wide. A proposal for the next phase of the project, now being formulated, is
designed to strengthen the integration of research, extension, and policy
initiatives oriented to small producers in the state. The PESACRE group, with
the collaboration of the University of Florida, will provide the mechanism to
24
coordinate the work of diverse institutions in a common work program that, if
successful, stands a chance of being sustained beyond political changes in the
future.
Discussion
The UF-UFAC Collaborative Project experimented with a novel
combination of strategies to build institutional capability and to develop a
sound methodological basis for research and action. Participants included
researchers and extensionists selected because of their common interest in or
on-going work with small producers within their own organizations. The
project provided these technicians with the skills to be responsive to
emerging problems, and with the opportunity to work with those from other
agencies with different points of view. The links between research, extension
and policy help to mold an integrated, not a sectoral, perspective. The
multidisciplinary, inter-institutional group called PESACRE is a key product of
the project. The working group neither substitutes for nor competes with
existing organizations, but rather provides integration, and a forum in which
group members can work and discuss common issues outside the constraints of
their own institutions. The group functions not as a political "interest" group
but as a professional collective, a cross-institutional vehicle for debate,
discussion, sharing of information and linking of research, policy and
extension.
Experiences elsewhere have shown that issue-oriented working groups
can be an effective way to draw together the resources and knowledge of
researchers, planners, and extensionists who are otherwise dispersed
(Schmink 1986; Schmink et al., 1986). More efficient use of existing
information provides a firmer basis for innovation. The ascension of several
Acre project participants to decision-making positions was an unforeseen
25
opportunity to strengthen the institutional bases for the project. Other group
members have shifted from one agency or job to another during the course of
the project. Over time, these connections help to consolidate an "institutional
field" to meet the challenge of implementing sustainable development
programs now being proposed for Acre.
The UF-UFAC training strategy was the key to establishing a strong
basis for the PESACRE group in a short time. The FSR/E methodology,
especially the sondeio and discussion of its findings, trained participants to
listen to producers and understand their logic and priorities, and to observe
whole systems and their interrelationships rather than focus only on their
particular professional interests. Preparation of reports forced participants to
listen to one another, reach a consensus on findings, set priorities and develop
recommendations. Literally every word of the sondeio reports was discussed
by the group, and the reports were finished within a week after the end of the
fieldwork. The collective research and training experience provided a vehicle
for agenda-setting in a matter of weeks, that took more than a year of monthly
meetings for working groups elsewhere to achieve (Schmink, 1986).
A relatively favorable political climate for the implementation of
alternative technologies for small producers exists in Acre, at least for the
short term. The continued strength of grass-roots political movements will
help to assure the possibility of continuing these programs. The state of Acre
is small enough to make a state-wide impact possible, under current
conditions. The state agency FUNTAC is coordinating a special, intensive effort
to implement Acre's extractive reserves. The new work thrust of the
Secretariat for Agrarian Development will complement that effort with a state-
wide extension program. The university and other research agencies will
provide the long-term research and training support.
26
It is impossible to predict Acre's political future, which could change
drastically with the gubernatorial elections to be held this year. The inter-
institutional character of PESACRE gives the group the flexibility to adjust the
overall work strategy to future constraints and opportunities. Whether they
continue as an informal group attached to other organizations, create' a
formal, legal entity, or are absorbed into the programs of one or more
organizations, their expertise will contribute to Acre's development initiatives
over the long run.
The UF-UFAC collaborative project is oriented to the long-term process
of building the strength of existing local institutions .by making more
efficient use of scarce and dispersed human and material resources. The role
of outside "experts" was primarily as facilitators and as equal collaborators in
this process. The project philosophy was not to introduce exotic technical
packages or solutions, nor to produce world-class research based on external
technical assistance. Building up from existing human and institutional
resources takes longer, but has important multiplier effects that improve the
long-term capability to work with outside experts, to develop appropriate
technical solutions, and to sustain the political support for their
implementation. If the program is successful in achieving its goals, the
ultimate beneficiaries will be the limited-resource producers in Acre, and the
natural systems on which they depend for their livelihood.
Schmink, M. 1985. The "working group" approach to women and urban
services. Ekistics 310: 76-83.
--- 1987. The rationality of tropical forest destruction. Pp. 11-30 in J.C.
Figueroa Col6n, F.H. Wadsworth & S. Branham (eds), Management of Forests in
Tropical America: Prospects and Technologies. Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico:
U.S.D.A. Forest Service.
-------, J. Bruce & M. Kohn. 1986. Learning About Urban Services for Women
in Latin America and the Caribbean. New York: The Population Council.
-------. & C. H. Wood. 1987. The "political ecology" of Amazonia. Pp. 38-57 in P.
D. Little & M.M. Horowitz (eds.), Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local Level
Perspectives. Boulder: Westview.
Schwartzman, S. 1989. Deforestation and popular resistance in Acre: From
local movement to global network. Presented at the meeting of the American
Anthropological Association, November.
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