Japanese Immigrants Gain Attention with Farming Method in Amazon

Tome-Acu, Brazil, Nov. 12 (Jiji Press)–An agricultural method in the Amazon rainforest region spread by Japanese immigrants in northern Brazil has attracted attention as a way of preventing global warming. Teeming with rich biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest is known as “the lungs of the Earth.” With concerns raised over the area’s deforestation, anticipation is rising that the agricultural method, involving nurturing a forest to grow crops there, can help the rainforest bounce back. Ernesto Katsunori Suzuki, a 59-year-old who runs a farm in Tome-Acu, known for its community of Japanese immigrants, said, “Here we have a form of sustainable agriculture in the Amazon.” Suzuki is a second-generation Japanese immigrant, with his parents moving to Brazil from the northeastern Japan prefecture of Fukushima. Tome-Acu is a four-hour drive from the Brazilian city of Belem, which hosts the ongoing 30th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP30. Suzuki’s farm, which was dense forest 100 years ago, is filled with oil palm trees from which palm oil is produced, with ripe cocoa and acai fruits, native to the Amazon, peeking from between the trees. Despite the country experiencing the worst drought on record last year, he said, “Our crops protected by the forest didn’t die.” In 1929, 189 people who arrived from Japan settled in Tome-Acu. Life was hard, with residents facing a series of issues, including tropical diseases. Shortly after enjoying a brief “pepper boom” following World War II, thanks to success in growing pepper seedlings, the community was hit hard by a crop disease in the 1970s. In order to reduce the risk of monoculture, a method called “agroforestry” was devised to grow multiple agricultural products by creating a forest with fruiting trees. Suzuki said that there are now more than 200 combinations of crops in Tome-Acu. By shifting the harvest periods, even smaller farmers can receive stable incomes throughout the year, he said. About 170 farmers, mainly those of Japanese descent, have introduced agroforestry on about 7,000 hectares of land. The method has won the backing of the Brazilian government. The Amazon rainforest has lost trees over an area equivalent to about 2.6 times the area of Tokyo in the past year alone, due to deforestation to secure more farmland. One advantage of the Tome-Acu farming method is that the planted trees absorb carbon dioxide. An official of an agricultural research institute said that the method restores lost forests, leading to lower temperatures due to the ground surface being covered by vegetation. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided aid to build a factory in Tome-Acu to process harvested fruits into juice. Opened in 1987, the facility has been expanded and now boasts an annual processing capacity of 10,000 tons. Processed fruits with a longer shelf life have expanded sales channels. Alberto Keiti Oppata, 60, head of the Tome-Acu Mixed Agricultural Cooperative (CAMTA), said, “Were it not this factory, Tome-Acu wouldn’t be what it is today.” Acai and cacao are exported to Japan, helped by the added value of adhering to environmental protection efforts. Talks have also emerged for a major Brazilian cosmetics company to build a palm oil processing plant in Tome-Acu. With rising global environmental awareness, the Tome-Acu farming method has spread overseas, being introduced to Bolivia and Ghana through international cooperation programs. Oppata, who visited India in October, said that the South Asian country was full of rice paddies. “I’d like to increase the number of oil palm trees there,” he added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]