The PCI Strategy in Mato Grosso: A Success Case of balancing Food Production, Conservation, and Social Inclusion

Stakeholders reflect on seven years of implementing the Produce, Conserve and Include (PCI) strategy in the state of Mato Grosso.

The Produce, Conserve and Include (PCI) strategy has already secured investments amounting to around BRL 520 million to implement projects and actions in municipalities across the state of Mato Grosso. Starting in 2017, the initiative commitment between the Government of the State, local authorities, international organisations and entities from the private and NGOs.

The funds come from different sources and are used to support local actions across the three pillars – production, conservation, and inclusion – of the strategy, which are complementary to achieving the agreed upon goals.

According to the executive director of the PCI Institute :

In the 2022/2023 crop year, the state exceeded the production mark of 100 million tons of grains (such as soybeans and corn, among others) while maintaining more than 60% of its territory with native vegetation.

Smith points out that the work carried out by the PCI Strategy proves that Mato Grosso can use investments as a means to continue food production while reducing, rather than increasing, greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2025, during COP30 in Brazil, we will present the PCI strategy as a viable and pragmatic way to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, in line with the commitment launched by Governor Mauro Mendes and Secretary of State for the Environment Mauren Lazaretti at COP26 in Glasgow.

Four initiatives are currently being implemented in the state. The executive secretary of one of the initiatives, Luciano Bonaccini of the Barra do Garças PCI Compact, explains that the proposal has been so well accepted by the local population that the municipality has already managed to put in place all the legal framework required for the actions to go ahead and attract new partners and investments. The PCI Compact currently boasts around 50 members.

One of the most important achievements so far of the PCI Compact, was the hiring of a forestry engineer to work on regularising the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry). This was done in partnership with the organisation that invests in the PCI strategy and Regional PCI Compacts-IDH. As a result, 96 per cent of rural properties have been registered, a critical step towards developing any kind of project. Another strong partnership is that with Empaer, which provides support for family farming.

Family Farm

The executive secretary of the Tangará da Serra PCI Compact, Bethânia Valentino Santos, noted the progress of the work in the region consisting of six municipalities of the state’s , which has a vast territorial extension and a great diversity of production and interests.

The region is currently undergoing a strong expansion in the sustainable production of commodities, large indigenous territories, cattle ranching and also many family farming and traditional communities. “Despite all the differences, everyone has sat around the table to talk and set joint goals,” says Bethânia, noting that these municipalities are a good example of the success of the Mato Grosso PCI approach.

Municipal Secretary of Agriculture for Juruena, Leonir Sell, a municipality that is part of the Juruena Valley PCI Compact , commented that he is very pleased with the actions, which have prioritised technical support for environmental issues and land regularisation. Of particular note to the Secretary was the land regularisation of the Vale do Amanhecer settlement, the result of 20 years’ of partnership between the PCI Compact, IDH and INCRA (the Brazilian government institute responsible for regularizing land titles)

“With the PCI Compact, we’re been able to overcome resistance from part of the population to environmental considerations, which has made it possible for various projects to move forward in the area of livestock farming, and the integration of forestry, livestock and agriculture,” says Sell.

© © Marcus Mesquita Photographer. All rights reservedCattle Farm in Mato Grosso region

In the town of Sorriso, it’s been a challenge to get the strategy ‘on the ground’, as Emanuele Oslen, Executive Secretary of the municipality’s PCI Compact, describes it:

We have the support of a Farmer Support Centre, but we still need to make a lot of progress, especially in terms of communication with the society and with legal regulations.

Alex Schmidt, public policy implementation manager at IDH, stresses that the PCI Compact was instrumental in enabling this volume of resources to fund important projects in Mato Grosso, such as the Rural Producer Support Centres (CAPs), the Sustainable Calf Production Programme in the Juruena, Araguaia and Pantanal Valleys, Sustainable Productive Landscapes in the Tangará da Serra region, and Cultivating Sustainable Life in Sorriso.

These actions are carried out and led by a number of partners with funders such as Marfrig, IDH itself, the Soft Commodities Forum, the Consumer Goods Forum (Nestlé, Jerônimo Martins and Sainsburys) and Land Innovation Fund, Carrefour and Cargill.

We have realised that we will only be able to achieve the next steps by connecting partners, markets and society.

Alex Schmidt, Public Policy Implementation Manager at IDH

On 16 April 2024, members of the PCI Compact gathered in Cuiabá to take stock of their results during the 1st Strategy Regionalisation Workshop, in order to strengthen connections and inspire the work of those involved. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Government of Mato Grosso, municipal governments, rural and private organisations, traditional communities and indigenous peoples, as well as universities and the public sector, such as GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), IPAM (The Amazon Environmental Research Institute) and TNC (The Nature Conservancy).

© Ana Julha FotografiaMato Grosso PCI Workshop

About the PCI Strategy

Mato Grosso launched the ‘Strategy: Produce, Conserve and Include’ at the 2015 Paris Climate Convention (COP 21), with the aim of raising funds to strengthen agricultural and forestry production, conserve remaining native vegetation, restore environmental liabilities and include family farming and indigenous peoples in socio-economic terms, all while reducing emissions through the control of illegal deforestation and development of a low-carbon economy.

 

Learn more about the strategy and its goals at www.pcimt.org