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Brazilian Heartthrob Goes Organic |
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Marcos
Palmeira, a famous Brazilian film and television actor, spoke with
Tierramérica about his experience in sustainable agriculture and
what he thinks of genetically modified crops.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian actor Marcos Palmeira,
41, famous for his roles in 28 films and ''around 15'' television
drama series -- he says he lost count, but they include ''Irmaos
Coragem'' (Brothers Courage), ''Pantanal'' and ''Vale Tudo'' (Anything
Goes) -- is also known as an organic farmer.
He grows crops free of synthetic or chemical pesticides or fertilizer
on 250 hectares near Rio de Janeiro, and it was about that side
of his life, away from the spotlight, that he spoke with Tierramérica.
Q: What led you to become an organic farmer?
A: My concern about the health of people and of the planet. I discovered
that it isn't enough that food be natural for it to be healthy.
Everything comes from nature, including the chemical fertilizers
that threaten our health. Health is a very complex thing. I then
began to support organic agriculture, which led me to discover biodynamics,
and I approached the Brazilian Association of Biodynamic Agriculture.
Q: But was there some event in your life that awakened your
interest?
A: Yes, I realized that the people who worked on my farm didn't
eat what they themselves were producing, because they knew they
had treated it with poison.
When I bought the farmland seven years ago, it was a conventional
farming operation. When I saw that the workers weren't eating what
they had cultivated, I began to change my ideas.
Q: Did they tell you themselves that they didn't eat the
food because of the agro-chemicals?
A: Yes, they said that the agro-toxins they applied during cultivation
made them ill, that it burned their eyes and made their skin itch.
How could they eat something treated with those chemicals? They
opted to buy their food elsewhere. It was a completely incoherent
situation. I realized this, and I began to change things, to look
for guidance.
Q: What does your farm produce?
A: Vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products, 'caipira' (free-range
chicken) eggs. We are in transition now towards working in a totally
balanced ecosystem, one that is self-sustainable, and towards obtaining
biodynamic certification.
Q: What changes have there been on the farm?
A: Now the workers are eating what they harvest and they feel they
part of the production system, that they are valued. A great number
of birds reappeared, like toucans and parrots. Also the 'tamanduá'
(Tamandua tetradactyla), which eat vegetables, but also the ants
that devastate the crops. Visitors are shocked by the many spiderwebs
there are in my stable, but spiders naturally control flies.
Q: Your father, film director Zelito Viana, made a movie
about Indians, and you accompanied him during filming. Did that
have any influence on your decision to pursue organic farming?
A: I spent 90 days with the Xavante, an indigenous group in the
(central state) of Mato Grosso. I was 16 at the time, and I recently
went back, 25 years later. I think my contact with them reinforced
my respect for nature, it made me see it in a new way -- see that
human beings are an integral part of it.
Q: What is your opinion of genetically modified crops?
A: I think they are unsound; they are absurd. I think the world
is once again being tied to the market: advertising for the transgenic
products repeats that of the agro-toxins, and talks about a healthy
food that will feed the planet. But it has been proven that the
food problem lies in poor distribution, not the lack of production.
The same thing happens with wealth. Income isn't lacking, but is
poorly distributed.
Q: Beyond agro-toxins, what other environmental problem
do you see as a priority?
A: Humans, in their ambition, seek profit at any cost, even with
the burning of native forest in order to create more farmland. I
think humankind is the great culprit, because we don't learn, we
don't see ourselves as a part of nature. There are interesting ecological
ways of living.
* Mario Osava is an IPS correspondent.
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