Luiz Guilherme, who developed the model, estimates that 4,500 families in 11 Brazilian states (Bahia, Cear\u00e1, Esp\u00edrito Santo, Goi\u00e1s, Maranh\u00e3o, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Piau\u00ed, Rio Grande do Norte, S\u00e3o Paulo, and Tocantins) and seven African countries (Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda) have implemented the modular package, which occupies a footprint of between 100 and 1,500 square meters (m2<\/sup>). Families can choose from a total of 15 modules (see the infographic<\/em>).<\/p>\n The recommended starter package consists of five modules: a fish tank, laying hens, composting, earthworm production, and a vegetable garden. Families can also choose to raise other animals. All modules are benefited by the nutrient-rich waste produced by the fish tank. Commercial fish feed leaves nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium in the tank water, which can then be used for irrigation and fertilization.<\/p>\n The round fish tank\u2014around 4.4 m in diameter and 70 centimeters in depth, with a capacity for 10,000 liters of water\u2014demands the greatest initial effort and investment, explains the EMBRAPA researcher, who developed the solution during his doctoral training at the Federal University of Uberl\u00e2ndia (UFU), with funding from the Minas Gerais Research Foundation, which now holds a patent for the system.<\/p>\n In the water-stressed sert\u00e3o<\/em> (badlands) of northeastern Brazil, water for the fish tank may need to be purchased from tank trucks, as is common in the region. The package offers relatively inexpensive solutions for building a biological water filter, a recirculating and aeration pump, and a sump tank, which separates solid waste from liquid.<\/p>\n \u201cI first made a very rudimentary and inexpensive tank using babassu palm stems, cardboard, and plastic canvas,\u201d said retired teacher and radio personality Paulo Afonso Silva Santos, better known in the city of Esperantina as \u201cPaulo Brasil\u201d, in an interview with Pesquisa FAPESP<\/em>. That was back in 2013, when he was first introduced to the system. Since then, he has built a fish tank in every house he has leased, along with the laying hen, goat, composter, and vegetable garden modules.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve consistently produced around 2 liters of milk a day,\u201d says Brasil, who lives with his wife and three children, aged 6, 10 and 17. \u201cAnd that\u2019s from a single goat.\u201d With an average flock of 20 chickens, he says he produces 5,500 eggs a year, as well 30 to 40 kilos of tilapia every 100 days. \u201cBecause I have physical limitations\u2014I contracted polio as a child\u2014and walk on crutches, I have further perfected the process for minimum effort.\u201d Brasil sells surplus eggs and goat’s milk to friends.<\/p>\n A model for food security<\/strong> \u201cEach family has between five and eight people, but many more have been reached, as the system has attracted interest from the wider community,\u201d says Cl\u00e1udia. \u201cBecause of the pandemic, demand for fresh vegetables has grown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInterestingly, the most successful units are managed by women,\u201d says Alba Leal. \u201cThey do everything on their own. The men in the family are involved only occasionally, as they spend most of their time at work away from home.\u201d<\/p>\n When the system is implemented as part of a government program, says Luiz Guilherme, the amount of government investment is approximately R$15,000 per family. One third of this amount is used for the fish tank and other structures and equipment, another third for one year of fish feed and supplies, and the remainder for technical assistance, monitoring, and travel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe family receives this amount as a one-time, upfront investment by the government program. After six or seven months, the family should be able to independently produce food products and purchase animal feed on its own,\u201d says Guilherme. EMBRAPA transfers the technology and provides needed instructions to the farmers or program managers at the start of the program, he explains. \u201cBut after the first year, we rely on people who have successfully implemented and mastered the system to teach and support other program participants.\u201d<\/p>\n Biologist Adriana Miranda de Santana Arauco, a professor of soil microbiology in the crop science program at the Federal University of Piau\u00ed (UFPI), has shown interest in bringing the new social technology to communities surrounding her campus in Bom Jesus, in the south of the state. \u201cIf soil is well managed when growing vegetables and other crops, its natural biological cycle is preserved,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is a way to grow food without harming the environment through deforestation or monoculture with the use of chemical fertilizers.\u201d<\/p>\n Among several other accolades, in 2017 the new technology received a Celso Furtado Regional Development Award from the Brazilian Ministry of National Integration. The system has also been used in research projects at schools and universities. A demonstration unit was set up at the Jundia\u00ed School of Agriculture (EAJ), a unit of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) specializing in crop science, in the municipality of Maca\u00edba, greater Natal. Karina Ribeiro, extension coordinator at EAJ\/UFRN, worked with her students to construct a unit at a municipal school in the state\u2019s southeastern municipality of Lagoa de Pedras, as part of one of her student\u2019s final coursework.<\/p>\n Recently, an extension project to implement the system at an agrarian reform settlement and a traditional quilombola<\/em> community in Maca\u00edba had to be suspended because of the pandemic. Ribeiro believes the technology can be an important social tool for development. \u201cFirst, it addresses the family\u2019s or the community\u2019s immediate nutrition needs,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the system can also be scaled up, although this would require people to devote themselves entirely to farming. We show people the possibilities, but it\u2019s up to them to take it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Social technology developed at EMBRAPA and UFU offers new ways for rural and low-income communities to produce their own food ","protected":false},"author":468,"featured_media":383973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[153,225,262],"coauthors":[778],"class_list":["post-383565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-agronomy","tag-economy","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383565"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384546,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383565\/revisions\/384546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383565"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=383565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/078-079_Sisteminha_297-0-desktop.png\")
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\nDesigned to provide the nutritional requirements of a family of four, the Sisteminha<\/em> package has been implemented in cities, smallholder settlements, and quilombola<\/em> and indigenous communities as part of a government program. Since March 2018, nursing technician Cl\u00e1udia Leal and her daughter, Alba, a computer technician, have been working to replicate the technology in Inaj\u00e1, a rural town in Pernambuco, where they have set up 13 units in seven communities.<\/p>\n