Resources of Surui People

Adapting to the 21st Century

A life without monetary resources is not possible any more today. Because, if the village life does not require big monetary spending, the main part of the intra-village economy being based on barter, numerous spendings remain inevitable.

Indeed, in thirty years of cohabitation with white people, needs were iduced to the Surui , who themselves aquire many things in city, partially including their food (it is also due to their insertion in the local economy with the farming and business of coffee).

The remaining surface of the Terra Indigena is too small to allow a purely traditional way of life (which would base only on hunting, crops and gardens). Furthermore, the traditional economy use to rely on a frequent movement of villages (about every 10 years), when the resources ran out in the surroundings. It has become impossible today, since one as built a certain numbers of elements which are difficult to move (wells, schools, access to electricity).

The three current main sources of monetary income are wood, coffee and breeding, to which is added the sale of arts and crafts - a difficult sale, because the FUNAI does not help promote it and that the region welcomes few tourists.