Brazilian farmers, movements and government meet in Viamão to advance national methane strategy

On 27 and 28 May, the Josué de Castro Education Institute (IEJC), in Viamão (RS), hosted an immersive training that brought together women and men farmers from across Brazil, civil society organizations, institutions and federal agencies. The aim was to share strategic experiences on the production and use of bioinputs, the management of organic waste, and the mitigation of methane emissions through farmer-led solutions. 

The meeting opened a space for exchange among participants, aimed at understanding how farmers can benefit from techniques and technologies for organic waste management both in the countryside and in cities, and at expanding agroecological practices that reduce methane emissions across the urban and agricultural and livestock waste sectors. 

The meeting is part of the project Development of a Methane Mitigation Strategy for the Urban and Agricultural Waste Sectors, which seeks to consolidate a national strategy to reduce methane emissions through waste valorization, the adoption of new technologies and the implementation of sustainable practices. 

The activity was carried out by the Instituto Pólis and the Landeless Workers’ Movement (MST )National Bioinputs Collective, with support from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), and gathered representatives of the National Agroecology Articulation (ANA), the Small Farmers Movement (MPA), the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the Rio Grande do Sul State Secretariat of Agriculture. 

Representing CCAC in Brazil, the National Coordinator Gabriela Beltrão presented the Coalition and the role of the agricultural sector in its integrated agenda on short-lived climate pollutants. 

"Smallholder farmers live the climate crisis from two sides of the same coin: they are the most exposed to its impacts, and they hold many of its answers. Every technology we saw this week was already working. They are not waiting for solutions, they are creating them" 

The agenda included two technical visits that translated the discussion into practice. 

The first was the Ana Primavesi Bioinputs Production Unit, a reference in the collective production of isolated microorganisms, biocomplete composts and living soils. The unit combines traditional knowledge, social organization and agroecological production — proof that the technologies needed to reduce methane in agriculture are already operating, scaled by farmers themselves. 

The second visit was to the mechanized composter at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS), a technology developed by Igapó for the efficient treatment of organic waste. The system accelerates decomposition, minimizes the space required and eliminates odors, turning what would be waste into fertilizer — and keeping methane out of the atmosphere. 

Together, the two visits made visible the spectrum of solutions available, from traditional low-tech and high-tech tools converging on the same goal.