Launched in 2012, the PDRT has helped Fibria generate value and strengthen ties with the rural communities in which it operates. The program enables family farmers, organized into associations and networks, to produce various crops and raise small animals. Though this initiative, we are currently contributing to increasing the income of more than 5,000 families in the states of Bahia, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and São Paulo.

The program has three main guidelines: technical assistance to farmers; stimulus for the use of low-cost technologies, with reduction of environmental impact; incentives and guidance for access to public policies, which increase the possibilities of marketing the products. Income growth since the beginning of the program has totaled between 4 to 5 minimum wages per family.

In 2016, the PDRT began the transition to pure agroecology, with important gains in conservation of natural resources and in the economic balance of forests. It was a great step towards becoming the largest agroecological program in Brazil.

Maria José da Silva, at the Rural Land
Development Program in Aracruz (Espírito Santo).
Photo: Fibria archive.