Brazil
Itachinga Community Farm

Itachinga is a small town of 14,000 people located two and a half hours east of Sao Paulo. In this city, there is a strong commitment to improving the environment, especially because throughout Brazil the government has instituted a tree-planting policy. In order to help improve and maintain the water quality of their rivers, trees must be planted every ninety feet on both sides of rivers, wherever possible.

The Itachinga tree project involves that planting of many seedlings along the rivers around the city. However, after the trees are planted, they need to be watered and cared for. This requires time, energy, and an ongoing commitment from many people in order for the seedlings to survive and for the program to be successful. Local communities are encouraged to join the project and are invited to grow their own gardens near their homes and along the river. The land itself belongs to the city, but the local communities are allowed to use it to grow their own vegetables in return for their participation in the city tree project taking care of the trees.

Given that there are few open spaces or fields in the city neighborhoods this is a welcomed incentive. Now, with the green rivers project, the people can come and grow vegetables and trees together, and spend time in nature. As the trees grow larger, nature takes care of them, and the need for manpower is greatly reduced. An incredible amount of land is available and open for the planting of trees and vegetables on the river banks. One of the organizers of the tree project who has a great respect for nature and Natural Agriculture invited Shumei to set aside land for the creation of a demonstration farm.

A Natural Agriculture project in Itachinga is now underway and it is in the early stages of development, but already the community partnership has grown. It is very important to get the local community involved and a local school has joined the effort by encouraging students to work on the Itachinga tree project, which has become more of a community farm. Shumei plans to send a Natural Agriculture farmer to begin this demonstration farm in the near future. They will also hold workshops and teach local people about Natural Agriculture so that they can also practice Natural Agriculture in their gardens and way of living.