Family farmers are being valued and receiving fair payments for the agroecological products they grow and for practices that...
February 17, 2025
“I joined Casa Familiar in 2022 with the desire to transform my family’s life through agriculture, our main activity.” This is the story of Iasmin dos Santos, who after three years, in 2025, will join the group of 109 rural entrepreneurs who have recently graduated from schools that partner with Fundação Norberto Odebrecht (FNO) in the implementation of PDCIS, its social program.
Technical training for young farmers who benefit from FNO has transformed the realities of entire families and communities in rural areas
The young woman, graduating from Casa Familiar Rural de Igrapiúna (CFR-I) in December of last year along with 33 colleagues, received her diploma in Agribusiness at a ceremony. During the same period, graduation ceremonies were also held at the Casa Familiar Rural de Presidente Tancredo Neves (CFR-PTN), which celebrated the qualification of 37 agricultural technicians, and at the Casa Familiar Agroflorestal (CFAF), which qualified 38 teenagers as forestry technicians.
“It fills us with pride and joy to have witnessed another stage in the lives of these young people, who are now following their paths contributing to the development of their communities, wherever they may be,” says Rita Cardoso, director of CFAF. For Yasmin Watanabe, a recent CFAF graduate, the three years she spent at Casa Familiar “were fundamental in getting me closer to what I want to be in the future.”
This is the great difference between these high school institutions integrated with technical education, located in the Baixo Sul region of Bahia: applying practices from PDCIS, a program focused on sustainable territorial development, the schools serve the children of family farmers in the region, offering an education aligned with the reality of the countryside. This teaching model results in higher crop productivity, consequently contributing to improving the living conditions of the students’ families, many of whom live in remote areas and have limited access to basic rights, such as basic sanitation and drinking water.
Iasmin and her parents, a farming family from the municipality of Taperoá (BA)
The turnaround in the production of Iasmin dos Santos’ family is proof of this impact. “With my daughter’s entry into CFR-I, we got back on our feet. Through knowledge, we learned how to work, how to apply limestone and fertilizer correctly. We are proof that Casa Familiar is capable of changing lives”, says Janete dos Santos, the teenager’s mother.
Residents of Taperoá (BA), Iasmin and her family lived off extractivism, growing only guarana and cassava. But everything began to change when, in her first year of training, the young woman developed the Educational-Productive Project (PEP) for plantain, with the support of the school, which provided inputs and technical monitoring. The result exceeded all expectations and the income of R$45,000 boosted the diversification of crops on the farm, also making her a producer of cocoa and cloves. In addition, this financial return allowed a dream to come true: the purchase of a notebook for Iasmin, an essential tool for her studies, which led her to another great achievement — passing the entrance exam for the Nutrition course.
For those who actively contribute to the education of these young people, following their development journeys is something exciting and rewarding. “We have no doubt that we are training men and women who will contribute to society, both productively and ethically and professionally, with the certainty that they will do excellent work in the future,” highlights Danilo Castro, educator at CFR-PTN and graduation godfather of the recently graduated class.
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