The red landscape and enormous canyons of Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piaui state, are like something out of a science-fiction film. That’s what makes the occasional oasis of green peeping through the raw earth such a surprise, contributor Rafael Martins writes for Mongabay. In his early days in Gilbués, farmer José Rodrigues do Santos had to carry water every day to irrigate the dry soil. Things are much better today than they were a few years ago, he told Mongabay. “Our well and the technology improved our life a lot.” It was through a 2006 Ministry of Environment project aimed at combating desertification, common in this part of Brazil, that local farmers like Santos gained access to the modern technology and tools they needed to manage the soil and develop farming. “We have improved 1,000% since 2006,” Francisco Washington Junior, Santos’s son-in-law and fellow farmer, told Mongabay. “We began here in Gilbués producing 20 bags of corn per hectare. Today we produce 120.” Washington also grows vegetables, including lettuce, carrots, garlic, onions and beans. “When I came to this place, no one believed I would be able to grow anything,” he said. “But now — just look! Every day I come out and manage to pick food for my family with enough left over to sell.” The difference came down to good land management, such as planting trees in gullies to prevent soil erosion and improving soil nutrients. Soil and plant nutrition specialist Fabriciano Neto told Mongabay that the region’s lithic…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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