Novo Progresso | At first glance, everything seems to oppose them. But the cacique Kayapo Beppronti Mekragnotire and the truck driver Sergio Sorresino have a common enemy: Ferrograo, a railway project crossing the Brazilian Amazon to transport tons of soybeans and grains.
For the indigenous chief, the construction of some 1000 km of rails that will connect Sinop (center-west), one of the poles of the powerful Brazilian agrifood sector, to the river port of Miritituba (north), risks accelerating deforestation, affecting many Indian territories.
The route does not directly cross these lands reserved for the natives, but the territories of the Kayapo, Bau and Menkragnoti peoples are only 50 km from the future railway.
The trucker, for his part, fears finding himself technically unemployed, like thousands of his colleagues who transport soybeans, corn and other agricultural products every day on the BR-163, an often very congested road which leads to the river ports of the Amazon. and its tributaries.
The Ferrograo project, of strategic importance to the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, is due to be tendered in early 2021, for an inauguration scheduled for 2030.
A small revolution for a country with continental dimensions where rail transport is very underdeveloped, most of the goods circulating by road.
Estimated cost: 8.4 billion reais ($ 1.95 billion), which the government hopes to finance with foreign funds.
The issue goes far beyond the borders of Brazil, which exports its agricultural products on a massive scale, particularly to China.
“We will be able to reduce costs by 30 to 35% and halve the transport time,” said Edeon Vaz, director of the Movement for Logistics in Mato Grosso, ardent defender of the project.
But for environmentalists and Native American defenders, Ferrograo symbolizes a new offensive on the tropical forest, just like the construction of the BR-163 or the Transamazonian road in the 1970s, in the midst of a military dictatorship.
Blocked road
It is precisely on the BR-163 that the paths of Beppronti Mekragnotire and Sergio Sorresino crossed, two weeks ago.
With several dozen other members of the Kayapo people, the cacique blocked the road at the level of the town of Novo Progresso, in the state of Para (north).
Armed with bows and arrows, wearing traditional feathered headdresses, they demanded more help from the public authorities against the coronavirus and the end of deforestation and gold panning on their land.
“With the construction of the road, deforestation has increased significantly. Imagine what might happen with Ferrograo, ”warns the cacique, pointing to a column of smoke emerging from a forest fire.
Most of these fires are deliberate, caused by people burning after illegally clearing areas to grab new land and graze their cattle.
Sergio Sorresino was one of the truck drivers blocked by the indigenous roadblock, in a line of trucks that stretched for miles.
But the truckers did not hold it against them. “They have the right (to protest). Ferrograo is going to affect us a lot too, ”says the 48-year-old driver, who has been transporting grain in his truck for many years.
Truckers have already shown they can put pressure on the government in 2018, with a ten-day strike that crippled the country.
The Climate policy initiative think-tank estimates that the Ferrograo project “will induce the deforestation of 2,043 km2 of vegetation in Mato Grosso”.
Beyond the route of the railway, new roads could be created to connect the stations where the goods will be loaded.
But the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove), which brings together agribusiness giants like Bunge or Cargill, highlights the fact that the project could significantly reduce exhaust emissions.
“With 160 wagons, the train will be able to transport 12,000 tonnes of grain with three locomotives, instead of the 300 trucks currently required,” says Edeon Vaz.