Brazil: Emater invests in the multiplication and distribution of improved butter bean seeds

Tradition in the cuisine of the Middle and Lower Amazon, the butter is a variety of cowpea beans with very small and soft grains, with fast cooking and unique flavor, which may have been introduced to the region by Italian religious (in Monte Alegre) and Americans (in Santarém) in the 19th century, with their cultivation related to a quilombola tradition. “It tells the story that the Americans brought this seed here to Santarém and started to be multiplied in that region. But over time, these seeds have become uncharacteristic, ”says agronomist Guilherme Saldanha, supervisor at the Pará State Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Office (Emater) in Santarém. The resumption of production of the species in the Lower Amazon, with improved grains and closer to the originals, is being possible thanks to the production of native samples, improved by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and treated at the Center for Agroecological Training, Technological ...