Afro-Brazilian farmers in São Paulo are helping their neighbors in Brazil suffering from food inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The farmers use their farms to produce and deliver food to marginalized areas in its biggest city.
As of Oct. 25, more than 254 tons of food was given to 31,000 people since the summer of 2020. Millions of people across Brazil have been left without work during the pandemic, and at least 600,000 people have died from the coronavirus.
Many are also hungry, and Afro-Brazilian organizations in São Paulo are doing their best to help their neighbors.
The Vale do Ribeira Quilombo Farmers Cooperative is a group of Afro-Brazilian farmers managing producing and trading food for several Black neighborhoods in São Paulo. The farmers are currently helping 17 different areas fight food inequity.
Quilombos are Black hinterland settlements initially set up by escaped slaves. The Quilombo farmers also help to connect sponsors to Black neighborhoods in São Paulo.
Raquel Pasinato is a biologist with the Social Environmental Institute and noted how the organization functions.
“Partners buy food from the cooperative and distribute it. The money maintains production on the farms, ensures income for these Afro-Brazilian farmers and takes organic food to those who are vulnerable in the capital.”
View this post on Instagram
Racism is an issue in Brazil. Mauricio Biesek is the Social Environment Institute advisor in Brazil and noted that the Quilombo face discrimination by inspection authorities and society over assumptions they don’t have modern agricultural skills.
“The fact that the region has such an extensive preserved forest with communities that have been in the territory for over 300 years shows the opposite,” said Biesek.
More than 40 million people living in Brazil go hungry, and the unemployment is more than 14 percent. Seventy-two percent of the unemployed are Black, and three-quarters of the country’s poor people are Black or of African descent.
The food donations occur once per month and are expected to continue until January of 2022. All the food is organic, which farmers said nourishes the soil and keeps the environment chemical-free. There are currently 1,290 cooperatives helping with food production, and more than half are women.
