Over the next three years, the $450.000 contribution will support an initiative that combines cocoa cultivation with cattle raising in Pará
The Elanco Foundation will donate US$ 450.000 to support the RestaurAmazônia Project, one of the first six initiatives selected to receive an investment from the JBS Fund for the Amazon (The Fund). The contribution will be made over three years to Fundação Solidaridad, the international civil society organization that leads the development of the project. The Elanco Foundation is the first external organization to contribute to one of the programs selected by the JBS Fund for the Amazon.
The Fund was created last year by JBS, the second-largest food company in the world, to promote the preservation of the forest and sustainable development in the region, and to improve the income and quality of life for the communities in the biome. “The support of institutions such as the Elanco Foundation helps to strengthen initiatives in the Amazon that contribute to the sustainable, socio-economic development of the biome,” says Joanita Maestri Karoleski, president of the JBS Fund for the Amazon. “Following the commitment announced in 2020, JBS will double our partner’s contribution, which will certainly help the program gain even more scale in the region.”
“The support of JBS Fund for Amazon, together with partners like the Elanco Foundation, is essential to give scale and increase the impact of our initiative among family farmers in the Amazon,” says Rodrigo Castro, director of Solidaridad. “In addition to promoting sustainability, this support expands access to the technical assistance for producing families, generates income and prosperity, reduces deforestation and promotes forest restoration.”
The RestaurAmazônia Project will benefit 1.500 farmer rural families living along the Transamazônica in Pará, in the municipalities of Novo Repartimento, Pacajá, Anapu and Altamira. A tested and approved model of sustainable development will be escalated in an estimated area of 75.000 hectares. This model based on low-carbon agriculture, with the recovery and the better use of degraded areas and the adoption of Agroforestry Systems (SAF), which combine cocoa cultivation to the region’s native vegetation.
Based on the results and learnings gained from tested and proven pilot project, the overarching goals of this project are to:
• Increase livestock productivity by 22%;
• Increase cocoa productivity by 40%;
• Preserve over 30,000 hectares of forest;
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 53%;
• Increase family farmers income by 30%.
“As any organization committed to advancing the sustainable growth of communities around the world, we are proud to partner with the JBS Fund on the RestaurAmazônia Project,” says Kristin Bloink, chairperson of the Elanco Foundation. “Not only does the project align well with our efforts to promote sustainable farming and environmental conservation, but it supports the health and well-being of one most important biome on the planet and its inhabitants.”