The Mosaic Company, 2012 Sustainability Report
Agricultural Development
The Mosaic Institute in Brazil has made a grant
to Agência Mandalla, which has developed a
high-yield, sustainable agriculture model for
smallholder farms in nor theastern Brazil that
improves livelihoods and encourages diverse
ecosystems. The mandalla gets its name from
its circular design, with a reflecting pool at the
center that provides an irrigation source as well
as a habitat for fish and ducks. The surrounding
rings are used to grow vegetables, beans, fruit,
corn and cash crops, while the outermost rings
of fruit trees protect the mandalla from the
elements. As many as 32 dif ferent crops can
be grown in a one-acre mandalla, providing
tremendous diversit y in diet for the farm family
as well as a hedging mechanism against plant
disease or infestation. Each mandalla provides
more than five direct jobs and generates food
for at least 10 families, or about 50 people
on average. Agência Mandalla is moving these
farmers from subsistence to a healthy surplus of
food for consumption or sale.
Mosaic also took the mandalla model into
schools in underprivileged neighborhoods in
Cuité in the nor theastern state of Paraíba. The
children maintain the mandallas as par t of
their school curriculum, learning simple and
sustainable agricultural techniques such as using
a discarded plastic bot tle as a pocket greenhouse
to grow sensitive crops like let tuce. For their
ef for ts, students are rewarded with fresh food
for consumption, as well as a personal sense of
empowerment.
32
CROPS
IN ONE ACRE
The mandalla gets its name from its circular design. As
many as 32 dif ferent crops can be grown in a one-acre
mandalla.
Community
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