The KitSAF as a governmental action to promote forest restoration by family farmers in the cerrado of Bahia

Abstract

The western region of Bahia represents an important agricultural frontier in Brazil, due to well
developed soils, well defined precipitation regime, topography and water potential favorable to
agribusiness activities. It is also an important region for conservation of the cerrado, one of the
Brazilian biomes richest in heterogeneity and biodiversity, but which has been suffering from
increasing deforestation and environmental damage from vegetation suppression and forest
fires. The Cerrado Bahia Program is an initiative that arises to promote a continuous reduction
of rates of deforestation and occurrence of non-Cerrado forest fires, which has as one of its
important actions the Kit SAF, which links actions for the recovery of liabilities (Through the
provision of agricultural inputs and materials) to training and technical assistance processes
associated with agroecological principles. The objective of the activities that comprise the Kit
SAF is the training of family farmers to facilitate the transition of the family farm to ecologically
based production systems, contributing to the recovery of degraded areas, the conservation
of the Bahia savanna hand the improvement of the quality of life of the small farmer. The Kit
SAF includes workshops on Diagnosis, Collecting cerrado native seeds, Training in Sucessional
Agroforestry Systems in the Sítio Semente, Nursery and seedling production, Alternative
practices to the use of fire and Projects ellaboration. The agroecological principles and agroforestry
systems are the core of this experience, which has shown satisfactory results, with an
increasingly effective participation of the communities benefited by the Program.