Sugarcane sector is the most affected; fire killed crops of settlers and farmers in Ribeirão Preto

09/06/2024

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Fire on the Fazenda da Barra, owned by settlers, in Ribeirão Preto — Foto: Acervo Pessoal

The fires in the state of São Paulo have caused losses of more than R$2 billion to agribusiness, according to the state government, and forced small farmers and settlers in the Ribeirão Preto area to leave their farms and homes. Large companies in the sugar-and-ethanol sector—among the most affected—are carrying out daily firefighting actions in the countryside of São Paulo.

Guilherme Piai, São Paulo’s secretary of agriculture, said the fires hit 8,049 farms on almost 480,000 hectares. In sugarcane fields alone, around 240,000 hectares were affected, he told Rádio Bandeirantes. In total, 50 municipalities are in a state of emergency due to the fires.

The sugar-and-ethanol industry is the most affected, but there are also losses in grains, coffee, livestock, and other crops, in addition to damage to conservation areas in the state.

Settlers were also affected by the fires. On Tuesday (3), farmers from Fazenda da Barra, the largest settlement of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) in the Ribeirão Preto region, saw flames cross the train line that connects the area to the Cândido Portinari neighborhood and reach part of the movement’s 472 plots of land.

Nivalda Alves de Jesus, a settler who is part of the Mãos da Terra Agroecological Cooperative, said since Sunday (1) the fire had been causing damage to the farm, and on Tuesday (3) it reached some plots. Around 3,260 people live in the 1,700-hectare settlement.

“We lost production from our vegetable garden, structures for chicken coop, pig pens, and irrigation equipment. We released the chickens and pigs so they wouldn’t burn to death. In my plot, there was nothing left. The fire also reached my house’s tiles, windows, and doors,” she said. Ms. Jesus, who has lived in the settlement for 20 years, said that was the worst fire ever in the region.

Ms. Jesus said the settlement was still covered in smoke and the air was unbreathable on Thursday (5), forcing her to move to her daughters’ home in town. The settlers are now focused on assessing the losses and joining forces to meet the contracts for delivering school lunches to several municipalities.

Small coffee and vegetable producers in the Ribeirão Preto area also suffered losses. On Wednesday (4), João Lúcio Pinto’s smallholding in Buritizal was destroyed by fire, as flames that had been burning a sugarcane field on the banks of the road connecting Buritizal to Igarapava advanced over his property.

The fire burned the entire vegetable garden, killed animals, and destroyed the family’s house and the four cars they used to transport produce. In Santo Antônio da Alegria, at least 30 small coffee farms have seen losses since August 17th.

The two small farms owned by Mateus Cassarotti de Assis, which grows 25 hectares of coffee, were affected. He said the fire came down the mountain range that borders São Sebastião do Paraíso, Minas Gerais, burning coffee and eucalyptus trees. “We tried to contain the fire but it was useless. The counterfire measures did not work,” he said.

Raízen, one of the most affected sugar-and-ethanol companies, told Valor it is carrying out firefighting actions “daily in the vicinity of practically all of its 30 bioparks in operation.”

The company stated that, in addition to the dry weather, gusts of wind make it hard to contain the fire and have been largely responsible for the spread of fires.

The same concern was expressed by Secretary Guilherme Piai. He warned of what he called a “triple factor 30”—temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, winds above 30 km per hour, and relative humidity below 30%. “We are experiencing these weather conditions, and between the 13th and 14th the risks will increase as intense winds are expected,” he said.

*Por Eliane Silva, Luciana Franco, Isadora Camargo — Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/