Amazonia - a perspective on development

Abstract

The Brazilians claim that 'no other region has been so much studied, and so little under- stood. This attitude provided carte blanche for the decision to open up Amazonia by constructing arterial routes through previously unroaded forest (Figure 1). Uninhibited by previous research, the Brazilian Government decided that it would test the possibilities of permanent settlement after investing a billion dollars on infra- structure. The million settler families who were expected to colonise the land alongside the new roads were the unwitting guinea pigs - 'the people without land being linked to a land without people.' After all, 'Amazonia is the solution not the problem.' It is a little unfair to brand all the officials concerned with the programme as purveyors of slogans, unconcerned with the realities of the environ- ment. The early planning maps had areas shaded as 'unsuitable for short and long cycle cultures' (Brazil Ministry of Transport, 1970), but these areas were still studded with planned colonisation settlements! The conventional wisdom suggested that the rain forest soils of Amazonia were likely to be unsuitable for permanent agriculture. FAO-UNESCO (1971) soil map of the world made it plain that 'the principal limitation of these soils is their low nutrient content.' But with careful management, especially the incorporation of humus through green manuring, and by adding fertilizer to the clay-textured soils, they could be made productive. However, when soils scientists considered the typical systems practised on the forest margins, they were not enthusiastic about the long term prospect for small farm settlement (Bennema, 1975). Apart from the scientific assessment of these soils, there were examples of the consequences of permanent agriculture, notably in the Bragantine region east of Belem, where only some 10 per cent of the land can be farmed at one time with low yields. The Fordlandia rubber plantations near Santarem disappeared under regenerating forest as the trees succumbed to disease. Apart from the floodplain lands, periodically rejuvenated by silt deposits derived from the Andes, the only permanently productive areas used subsidies of nutrients brought in at great expense from outside the region. The most dramatic example of this 'plantpot' agriculture was a combination of poultry and horticulture, where chickens fed on imported rations provided the organic manure needed to fuel a small market garden.