With over 500 tons of poison-free food and reiterating that it is possible to produce healthy food to fight hunger, more than a thousand peasants from all over Brazil are holding the 5th edition of the National Agrarian Reform Fair, organized by the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese) between May 8 and 11, at Água Branca Park, in the city of São Paulo.
The most recent episode of Bem Viver, one of BdF’s online shows, features the preparations of families encamped and settled in agrarian reform areas in 23 Brazilian states, organized through collectives, cooperatives, and agro-industries. These families will present society with a variety of more than 1,800 types of products, including fresh, processed, and organic food.
From Camponeses (the Portuguese word for “peasants”) cachaça, a traditional Brazilian alcoholic beverage, produced without chemical fertilizers or pesticides by the Vitória Agricultural Production Cooperative (Copavi) in the state of Paraná, to the roasted rice produced in Maranhão with the support of Chinese machinery, those who visit the fair will be able to get to know and celebrate landless workers’ production in its many forms.
Maria de Jesus is one of the female small farmers from Maranhão state who will be at the fair. She is part of a collective rice farm and is currently the treasurer of the Mixed Cooperative of Agrarian Reform Areas of the Itapecuru Valley (Coopevi, in Portuguese), located in the Cristina Alves Settlement, in the town of Nina Rodrigues, one of MST’s spaces chosen for the testing phase of the Chinese machines donated to Brazilian movements.
“The event is where we can present our products, sell them and make good money from them. I’ve been taking part in the fair since last year. We’ll have our products to show people, products that we, agrarian reform peasants, make ourselves, all healthy food. We’ll be selling white rice, toasted rice and red rice. This is very gratifying for us, especially for me, as a woman, who has been working hard on the agrarian reform, producing food. I’m very grateful and happy to have this opportunity,” explains Maria de Jesus.
Diego Moreira, part of MST’s Production Sector, explains that landless families are eagerly awaiting this collective moment. As well as sharing the food they produce, they have the opportunity to talk to society.
“The fair provides an important result for the families and cooperatives involved, but it’s even more important because it’s the moment to give an account, through our production, of the support society gives us and, through food production, shed light on a crucial debate and about the importance of agrarian reform. Be it through the products, but also through the food that will be very well prepared in our Culinária da Terra kitchens [Rooted Cuisine, in a rough translation] the art and the cultural manifestations that permeate the agrarian reform project,” Moreira said.
Far beyond food production: a project for society
In addition to selling food, the National Agrarian Reform Fair is considered a celebration of the project for society the MST advocates for. The event includes training spaces, the release of books, debates and workshops, as well as a wide-ranging program focused on strengthening the struggle for land and advancing agrarian reform in Brazil, presenting popular culture initiatives from all over the country.
Among the spaces, those who visit the fair will be able to enjoy the Cultural Arena, with presentations of cultural events and national artists, the Culinária da Terra kitchen, where it will be possible to taste the typical delicacies of all the Brazilian states prepared on the spot, as well as securing seedlings of ornamental, medicinal or fruit-bearing plants in the space of the National Plan for Planting Trees and Producing Healthy Food, the MST’s reforestation proposal to tackle deforestation and the climate crisis.
“The fair aims to bring up the debate on food, how necessary and important food is at this time to help overcome the dilemma of hunger in our country. It will bring up the importance of agrarian reform, the need to advance landless settlements and increase food production in our country, but also how crucial it is to take care of nature as a heritage of humanity,” adds Moreira.
And there’s more…
In the month of workers’ struggle, Bem Viver features the experience of the Light and Life Association of Immigrant Women (Amilv, in Portuguese), which plays a crucial role in supporting and socially transforming the lives of hundreds of Bolivian immigrants in São Paulo.
In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Cinebancários is a cultural project that reinforces the union’s connection with workers and the people of Porto Alegre, the state’s capital, with debates and a program that aims to inspire reflection.
O12 Collective and Parque Autonomia, from the state of São Paulo, salute the fight for access to art and culture.
There’s also a delicious pumpkin pie recipe by Gema Soto.
Watch and listen to Bem Viver
On BdF’s YouTube channel, you can watch Bem Viver episodes every Saturday at 1:30pm (Brazil time).
Bem Viver also has a special podcast version, Conversa Bem Viver (only in Portuguese), broadcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Pocket Casts and Deezer.
