THE COMMODITY ISSUE
Félix Chaparro,
member of the Mbya
Guaraní from Arroyo
Moroti Community
planting yerba mate
Photo Daniel Espínola
Jara
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Yerba Mate in
traditional cup
Photo Nathalia Aguilar
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resources in a way that cannot
be sustained in the long term.
As well as farms encroaching
upon the forest edges, illegal
wood extraction and ‘hidden’
illegal marijuana plantations are
degrading the inside.
In a ground-breaking land-
purchase initiative, Guyra
Paraguay (BirdLife Partner)
bought a 7,000 hectare core
forest area, co-owned with
the indigenous community.
These communities and other
smallholders around the reserve
grow yerba mate around the
forest edge. Guyra Paraguay
is showing that a yerba mate
agroforestry system, grown
in the shade of native forest
trees (as the plant had originally
evolved to do before the
emergence of intensive full
sun plantations), can provide
habitat to conserve Atlantic
Forest wildlife, protect soil and
watercourses and store carbon,
all while providing a sustainable
income for local communities –
and better tasting mate.
So far, a total of 45 producers
from four farmer communities
and one indigenous community
have planted 48 hectares of
shade-grown yerba mate. The
JUL-SEP 2019 • BIRDLIFE
crop has the capacity to expand
in the area, generating a fair
and differentiated price that
represents significant annual
income for the families.
How did the success start?
With a cup of yerba mate, of
course. The commitment and
dedication of the producers has
been crucial, including people
like campesino leader Eger Báez
(better known as Lalo), whose
exceptional enthusiasm and
responsibility is sparking new
ideas in Oga Ita. Usually, a mate
in his house kicks off most of
Guyra’s training workshops,
where they teach agroforestry
management, financial
management, environmental
awareness and fair trade.
Local people are key to
this initiative. All the project
producers rely on the shade-
grown yerba mate not only for
the benefit of their families but
also for the protection of their
home, the forest.
Take for example Urpiano
Azuaga and Ramona López, who
work together to achieve these
goals with their crop, supporting
each other in planting trees,
attending all the training
workshops, and recording all
activities carried out in the yerba
mate plots. Many villagers strive
to promote the importance of
recognising the efforts of men
and women equally, even when
their duties differ according to
traditional gender roles.
In 2017, Guaraní leaders
Eusebio and Felix Chaparro
attended the South American
Yerba Mate Congress in Brazil.
This awoke great enthusiasm
among all of the participants,
who recognised the effort and
dreams of a better future for this
community.
With yerba mate popping up
as a key ingredient in natural
energy drinks in Europe and
North America, demand is
growing fast, and the next step
is marketing forest-friendly
yerba mate for commercial
success, underpinned by
a forest conservation and
protection management plan.
Guyra Paraguay is a permanent
presence at the site, offering
their support to farmers and
monitoring the biodiversity
of the area. For our BirdLife
Partner, the aim is for the
business to eventually become
self-sustaining, run by local
communities on their own.
F A C T
F I L E
AREA: 72,000 ha
BIODIVERSITY:
400 bird species
– more than
anywhere else in
Paraguay
CONSERVATION
ACTIONS:
community-
owned protected
area, biodiversity
monitoring
SUSTAINABILITY
STRATEGY:
Shade-grown
yerba mate
agroforestry
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