Marajó: challenges to paradise in the Amazon

Natural beauties and paradisiacal landscapes. This is how the Marajó archipelago, the world's largest fluvial-maritime island group, surrounded by river and sea waters, is known by tourists from all over the world. But, in addition to ocean beaches, rivers, good cuisine and the wealth of Marajoara handicrafts, the region presents profound contrasts within the Brazilian Amazon. The Marajó region is one of the poorest areas in the State of Pará and Brazil, with almost 200 thousand inhabitants. And most of them live in extreme poverty, with some of the lowest performances in the numbers of the Human Development Index (HDI) for the country.

The most up-to-date general HDI of all 5,570 municipalities in Brazil shows that the last 13 positions in the Brazilian ranking are filled by municipalities in the Amazon. Five of them are from Pará, and all served in the Marajó region: Melgaço, with the lowest HDI in Brazil, and also Portel, Anajás, Curralinho, Chaves and Bagre.

Listen to the comment on this news:

Human Development Index of Marajo is at Federal Government goals

The plan of action of the "Hug the Marajo" Program previews Federal Government measures for the region between 2020 and 2023. It firmed appointments and goals for jobs generation and improvement of social indexes at the archipelago. It has been the motto for meetings with local leaderships on trips to the region, made by minister Damares Alves, head of Woman, Family and Human Rights Ministry. 

Damares coordinate the program's actions. The goal is to have a guide to the development agatins social vulnerability at Marajo, with measures in infrastructure, productive development (focused in regional products, verticalization of the production, improvement of the business environment and market opening) and institutional development for management and governance of public policies.

In a visit to Soure, between July 1st and July 3rd, Damares Alves took part in 430 food parcels distribution and a thousand hygiene kits for public schools of Marajo. Also saw the Caruanas Institute of Marajo's Culture and Ecology, entity of social and environmental education maintained by paje (a kind of shaman) Zeneida Lima. They walked hand in hand  during the entire visit.

"Zeneida is an icon to Brazil, an inspiration, and this institute here is an example", said Damares, quoting the importance of quality education in the work with vulnerable children in Marajo. "An example of loving the land, respecting nature, but, at the same time, having contact with the world. This integration earth, water, culture, human dignity is awesome".

Zeneida Lima (Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

On the other hand, all the wealth of the region is also an asset for economic activities such as tourism, which is a key bet to boost the economy and develop the municipalities of Marajó. And despite the retraction in demand for tourists, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the advance of vaccination creates expectations for demand to increase again.

Despite being part of the same archipelago, the 16 Marajoara cities have distinct beauty and attractions. Because of this, the tourist region of Marajó is divided into two large sub-regions: the “Campos do Marajó” Region and the Marajó Forest Region. The first has ocean beaches and rivers with turbid waters, areas of open fields and mangroves. The second includes beaches of freshwater rivers, streams, waterfalls and forests. Both with unique attractions, cultures and landscapes.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

In the forest region, formed by Portel, Breves, Melgaço, Bagre, Anajás, Curralinho, São Sebastião da Boa Vista, Afuá, Muaná, Chaves and Gurupá, experience tourism in traditional communities is widely explored. “Here, tourists can spend a few days living with the Marajoara way of life, following the production of flour and fish, delving into the local culture”, details Marlison Alexandre, tourismologist from Portel who works in the Marajó Forest Region.

"After this pandemic period, we should receive more people in our municipalities. In accommodation, infrastructure, tourist attractions and mobility, we have improved a lot" - Michael Assis, a tourism specialist.

In addition to this community-based tourism, Marlison remembers another very popular front, which is the sun and beach with clearer and calmer waters. “The forest region has streams, islands, beaches and coves, natural attractions for those who like to enjoy nature”, he highlights. And extreme water sports tourism is also gaining ground. “Since our waters are clear, everything is very suitable for the practice of nautical sports. We have already had an AquaFest event, with watercraft racing, swimming, kayaking and canoe racing and wakeboarding, among others”.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

Marajoara countryside beauties

In the Campos region comprising the municipalities of Soure, Salvaterra, Cachoeira do Arari, Santa Cruz do Arari and Ponta de Pedras, sun and beach tourism is the most sought after by tourists and bathers. However, says Michael Assis, a tourism specialist who works in this portion of Marajó, the tourist potential is not limited to the exploration of the beaches. “Although our beaches are beautiful and enchanting, with river waters, waves, washed by the Atlantic Ocean, we also have experienced tourism with the Marajoara community, in addition to the cuisine and buffalo culture”.

He points out that the region has been preparing to receive this greater volume of visitors. “After this pandemic period, we should receive more people in our municipalities. In accommodation, infrastructure, tourist attractions and mobility, we have improved a lot, through public and private initiatives”.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

In fact, due to this diversity, the tourist potential of Marajó is unlimited, in the view of the state secretary of Tourism of Pará, André Dias. “Marajó has infinite potential for tourism, both in the countryside region, with its natural beauty, rich fauna and flora; and in the forest area, which has another biome, with other possibilities and tourist attractions. One with river beaches, the other with sea beaches, all this added to the natural beauty, exuberance of fauna and the culture of the Marajoara people, who have ancestral knowledge, rich handicrafts and a gastronomy that is extraordinary”.

Journey to the oceanic Amazon

Álvaro Navarro is an example of a tourist who was enchanted by the region. He came from Mato Grosso to visit Soure, and declared himself in love with the beaches of Pesqueiro and Barra Velha, famous in the city. “I'm loving Marajó. The region is beautiful, the beaches are very quiet and the cuisine is spectacular. I'm already inviting my friends from abroad to get to know the region”.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

The city's tourism secretary, Heloísa Martins, highlights the importance of Soure for the region's development. “We have beautiful beaches and we are very well served by natural beauty, a strong regional culture with carimbó, ceramics, buffaloes, in addition to a very rich cuisine. And here, the buffalo shines on everything. The most requested dish is the buffalo fillet with Marajó cheese, made with buffalo milk. Besides, our policemen run buffalo in the city. All of this is entertainment and generates jobs and income”, she says.

Promotions boost crafts

The archipelago's characteristic crafts also attract tourists from all over. This is because Marajó was the cradle of one of the most developed civilizations in Amazonian prehistory, the Marajoara society, responsible for a unique ceramic production, of great archaeological value and which is produced until today, with a powerful market and generating income for the community.

That's how Alessandro Pinheiro, now 32, came out of unemployment in 2013 to, six years later, become one of the most productive artisans in the archipelago, participating in more than eleven trade fairs.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

His trajectory began to change when, in 2013, he joined a project supported by the city of Salvaterra, municipality of Alessandro. Using his art to make ceramic buffaloes, he found a place to work in the collective space “Casa do Artesão de Salvaterra”. And in 2017, its work was leveraged by the support of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in Marajó. There, the entity works with several partners and has two business agencies, one in the so-called Oriental Region, headquartered in Soure; and another in Marajó Ocidental, with headquarters in Breves. Thus, Sebrae manages to embrace all municipalities in the archipelago, offering technical training to entrepreneurs and articulating favorable environments for small businesses.

“We believe that fostering entrepreneurship is one of the main ways to develop the Marajó economy and, consequently, improve the lives of Marajoara people. We have been operating in the region for many years, in various segments, such as tourism, handicraft, fostering public purchases of small businesses, in the buffalo farming chain and in retail, among others”, highlights the superintendent director of Sebrae in Pará, Rubens Magno.

He also celebrates the achievement of the Marajó Cheese Geographical Indication Certificate, the result of work by the state government, Sebrae and partner institutions, which began in 2012. “When there is intervention in entrepreneurship, it affects all areas of society. It is much more than helping the Marajoara to undertake or understand the activity they already carry out as a business and to develop it. It's thinking about the network. That's why Sebrae is never alone, but with several partners”, emphasizes Rubens.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

For Alessandro, his own story is proof that it works. “In 2017 I joined Sebrae, opened my company as MEI [acronym for the Brazilian category of individual micro-entrepreneur], and participated in several consultancies. As a result, a year later, in 2018, it had already participated in more than eleven events in Pará and other states, such as São Paulo and Brasília. But my life changed right after the first fair, because only with its sales I bought my motorcycle and this made my transportation to work much easier. Before, I used to ride a bicycle”, he says. 

In 2019, Alessandro bought land to build his own workshop. Thus, it already generates direct employment and also strengthens the production chain in Abaetetuba, in the Northeast of Pará, from where it buys miriti fiber packaging to sell its ceramics.

In Marajó, Sebrae also works with public purchases, product sales and offering services to small business entrepreneurs for city halls, with emphasis on school lunch items. In the Sebrae Project for Tourism, it also promotes businesses that are part of the economic chain of handicraft and tourism, in various segments, such as accommodation, transport and restaurants, among other projects. Last year alone, these actions trained more than 200 riverside families in the region.

Black gold and white gold: from buffalo to cheese

Marajó is one of the most important regions of extractive, fruit and fishing production in Pará and the Amazon, with emphasis on its large production of cattle and buffalo and its derivatives, milk, cheese and leather. This activity, installed even in the colonial period in Brazil, remains today as one of the most important for the archipelago's economy. This is something that was crowned, in March of this year, by the achievement of the Geographical Indication (GI) certification, recognized by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), for Marajó cheese, made from buffalo milk.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

“Marajó cheese, deservedly, has been standing out more and more on the national scene, as noted by the assistant secretary of the Secretariat for Agricultural Development and Fisheries (Sedap), Lucas Vieira, citing that in addition to the IG, only in the last two years, the product obtained two achievements: the so-called Selo Arte and the geographical indication. With the recognition of the Selo Arte, marajoara cheese is identified as a traditional Brazilian artisanal product – which allows commercialization throughout the country.

Through these certifications, Marajó cheese is officially recognized that there is no other cheese in the world. “It is a great tool for the cheese to gain expression in new markets at the national level, creating new sales channels, valuing the product in the national market”, emphasizes Vieira. This indication benefits the Marajó cheese production chain, located in the municipalities of Cachoeira do Arari, Chaves, Muaná, Ponta de Pedras, Salvaterra, Santa Cruz do Arari and Soure.

For Heloísa Martins, the achievement made the work of the producers be valued, and contributes to tourism in the region. “It was very important because the IG do Queijo gave us an identity. With that, we are valued. Now the real cheese can only be made in our municipalities, fostering the local economy and tourism, creating the 'Cheese Route', which starts in Cachoeira do Arari and ends in Salvaterra. We gained not only the identity, but also the development of the Marajó region”, she assesses.

Gabriela Gouvêa, president of the Marajó Milk and Cheese Producers Association, says that the region is experiencing a historic moment with the potential to leverage its development. “We have already had several milestones in the production of Marajó cheese, since the introduction of buffalo in the region, back in the 1930s, then with the legalization of Marajó cheese as an artisanal product in Pará. And now, the recognition of the Geographical Indication is a legal instrument that assures us the know-how”.

"In the buffalo culture, we have the largest livestock in Brazil in buffalo, in quantity and quality" -  Ribamar Marques, coordinator of the Program for Genetic Improvement of Buffaloes with Innovation for the State of Pará (Promebull).

The cheese is a family tradition of Gabriela, daughter of Carlos Augusto, better known as Tonga, owner of Fazenda Mironga, one of the oldest in the region. He is already the fifth of the family generation to follow in the cheese chain, and he has plans for the future. “We defend that pedagogical and cultural tourism is big in our region. We intend to implement a center for the study of buffalo culture and, who knows in the future, to have the first buffalo faculty in the world. Because this region has great potential for the development of buffalo production”, he emphasizes. For Gabriela, this is a way to employ the local population and prevent the workforce from fleeing to other regions.

To ensure the quality of the cheese production chain, the producers work in partnership with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). The entity's activities are focused on technologies for the genetic improvement of animals, together with good health and nutrition practices.

According to Embrapa, Pará has the largest buffalo herd in the country, with around 520 thousand heads, which represents almost 40% of the national herd. From this contingency, only about 5,000 animals in Marajó are dedicated to milk production, with an average productivity of 5 kilos per day per animal. Almost 100% of this production is destined to the cheese.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

Researcher Ribamar Marques, coordinator of the Program for Genetic Improvement of Buffaloes with Innovation for the State of Pará (Promebull), explains that, to increase this productivity, Embrapa runs the program that became public policy in 2019, through a partnership with the State Secretariat for Agricultural Development and Fisheries (Sedap) and the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of Pará (Faepa).

“Genetic improvement increases milk production and, consequently, increases the production of cheese from Marajó, which means employment and income in the region. Pará has the 4th largest herd in Brazil, but it does not have the fourth best quality. When we talk about the buffalo herd, the situation is different. In the buffalo culture, we have the largest livestock in Brazil in buffalo, in quantity and quality. Therefore, one sees the importance of investing in the improvement of the buffalo production chain”, explains Marques.

Cheese: a tradition of the Marajoara flavor

Cheese is an attraction of the local cuisine. At breakfast, lunch and dinner, it is always present. According to Maria do Socorro, a trader for over 26 years in the Soure shopping center, it is the most requested in her stall. “The cheese from Marajó is the biggest attraction. Tourists usually order bread or “tapioquinha” with marajoara cheese. That's what I support the family with”.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

The spice was approved by Rosemary Ripardo, who left Icoaraci, in the Belém district, to discover the charms of Marajó. Eating bread with buffalo cheese, she tells what attracts her most to the region. "The main attractions are the beaches, the culture and cuisine of Marajoara and the people, who are very receptive and communicative."

The Espirito Santo lawyer Fernando Provete, came from Espírito Santo to Marajó with his girlfriend and took the opportunity to get to know the cheese production up closer at Mr. Tonga's farm. “We came to visit the island of Marajó and here, on the farm, we are having this experience, getting to know Marajoara flavors and experiences. It was interesting to see the production, from start to finish. It's totally different from what I've tasted elsewhere. I tasted cheese and fell in love”, he smiles.