Quilombos, Japanese, and the Kinkajou “monkey” in polyculture farms of the south of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

This article reflects upon the polyculture systems in the Brazilian region of the Southern Lowlands of Bahia, known as “Baixo Sul da Bahia”, considering its impor tance in the sustainability of agriculture and, above all, in its connection with the identity processes. The main economic activity in the region is the agriculture developed in small areas called roças, with a large diversity of crops. The main aim of the study is to describe this agricultural model known as “mixed planting” developed by indigenous people, enslaved fugitives from large plantations, and their descendants in the region known as Empata Viagem (Southern Bahia Lowlands region, Brazil). Within the framework of the modernization process of agriculture, designed to overcome the backwardness of the countryside, a genuine historical amnesia makes these agricultural systems invisible. In agronomic research, Japanese farmers synthesize the new and even the unusual because, although they arrived in the region in the mid-20th century, they stand out as “inventors” of polyculture systems. The epilogue of this epic story is the “hands” of the Kinkajou, an animal supposedly responsible for planting the first cocoa plantations.