IMAD statement
IMAD started as a challenge for people concerned with development issues in the Grande Dourados region. The "soybean forever" development model and standing cattle, with no added value, was being questioned, and there was an urgent need to revise it, building a new regional vision, in tune with its diverse human groups and diverse communities and based on participatory processes with mutual respect and environmental concern. The need to diversify the processes of agro-industrial production needed to be reviewed in the light of the conservation and management of natural resources, responsible for the initial growth of the region, now compromised and weakened by the inadequate use of inputs, agricultural pesticides and intensive agriculture. The indigenous issue, deeply present and alive in the Douradian scenario, could not be omitted in this effort towards a more participatory, fair and ecologically balanced development. Courage, exhaustive consultation processes with these co
