Brazil's Mato Grosso state is home to one of the world's largest nature reserves. It could also, according to some analysts, help Brazil become the world's farming superpower. With its 906,806 km sq, Mato Grosso also has many landless peasants living in roadside camps. According to the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), thousands live in these makeshift camps. Conditions in these camps are very basic: there is no electricity or running water. Huts are made from branches and plastic rubbish sacks. Some landowners complain they are having to pay for basic infrastructure such as roads. Environmentalists accuse farmers of burning down the rainforest to make way for agricultural land. Alonso Iravali, head of the Manoki, says his tribe's traditional lands have been sold off to farmers. Conflicts over land, and diseases such as influenza and measles, have seen Manoki numbers fall. The Manoki number about 300. They survive through hunting, fishing and basic agriculture.
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