Trail 3 - Farming in the Rainforest

“In my home in the Amazon Rainforest, we grow crops of maize, manioc, bananas, plantains, beans, yams and sweet potatoes in gardens close to our villages,” says Mirim.

Growing crops like this is called SHIFTING FARMING. Communities will burn small patches of land to grow crops, and then leave the soil to recover for 10 to 15 years. This way the soil and the rainforest plants are not permanently damaged.

This type of farming is SUSTAINABLE, which means they use the rainforest without destroying it, so future generations of rainforest people can use and live in the forest too.

Do you eat anything else, Mirim?

“We also collect avocados, mangoes, pineapples, nuts and honey from the forest. Sometimes we even collect insects such as caterpillars, grubs and tarantulas”

YUM!

Rainforest people also know how to fish, using SPEARS or NETS.