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The lifeways related to the production and obtaining of foods among the Munduruku are what predominantly make up the field of traditional economy, despite the inclusion of several non-indigenous products in their eating habits, products which have to be bought on a regular basis, of which the most important are salt, coffee and sugar.

Agriculture is practiced according to an age-old system of knowledge, on terra firme, where the Munduruku make full use of the spaces available and the diversified planting of cultigens. The cultivated plants most often found are different types of manioc, bananas, potatoes, sugarcane and yams. Fruit-trees are most often planted on the trails to the gardens.

In their social division of labor, it is up to the men to do the cutting of the underbrush and felling of the trees where the stump garden will be cleared. The coivara, cleaning after the burning, is normally done by the whole family. The planting of manioc is done by both the man and his wife; other plants such as potatoes, yams, pineapple and peppers are planted only by the women. Normally weeding the gardens and harvesting are done by the women.

Activities such as fishing, hunting, and gathering are important to food production and are organized according to the seasons of the year. Fishing certainly constitutes the main form of obtaining animal protein, being done on a daily basis in the dry season with good results, and less practiced in the rainy season, when the rivers are high forming flooded areas (igapós) which makes fishing difficult.

The gathering of fruits is done in different periods of the year according to the ripening times of each fruit-tree (açaí, patauá, bacaba, uxi, jubá, pupunha, murici, ingá, castanha etc.). The thick juices, which are regionally known as wines, have an important role in the diet, especially in the rainy period, when the fish becomes scarce, and, along with manioc flour and game meat, form the basis of the diet in the winter.

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As far as the means for obtaining income which makes it possible to purchase certain products (salt, sugar, soap, clothes, sandals, fuel etc.), the Munduruku presently are engaged in producing manioc flour in several communities of the Tapajós River, the gathering of nuts in many communities of different rivers and rubber production – the latter, it should be said, is less and less important due to the low prices offered. As discussed in the item “History of Contact”, the Munduruku served as manual labor in the golden periods of the rubber boom, such that this activity became incorporated into their cultural universe.

Gold on the Tapajós

After the fall in the price of rubber, the region of the Tapajós was discovered at the end of the 1950s as a major source of gold. The movement to exploit this mineral intensified after the construction of the Trans-Amazon highway in 1972, and reached a peak in the period from 1975 to 1990. The Munduruku came to participate in the exploitation of gold from the 1980s on, either through doing what was called “reco” (panning in the places which had already been exploited by dragging equipment, in an effort to find flakes of gold) in the period of intensive exploitation of the gold sites by barges on the Tapajós and São Manoel rivers, or by visiting the sites exploited by non-Indians in the so-called “garimpos de baixão” (a name given to the prospecting site, formed by rectangular excavations on the banks of the rivers, made with the use of tools and machines). By that time, on their own initiative, they opened up the prospecting sites on the eastern side of the indigenous land, between the Cabitutu, Kaburuá and Tropas rivers. Many exploited places were abandoned because they produced very little; however, the gold production in small quantities still guarantees income for many young fathers.

Over the last few years, with the decline in the exploitation of gold throughout the region and the growing consciousness of the socio-cultural and health damages caused by these activities on the population, several indigenous communities have gone back to becoming interested once again in renewable forestry activities, seeking to find alternatives for improvement to increase the worth of products such as rubber, castanha nuts and copaiba oil. This process is still in its embryonic phase, requiring the elaboration of specific projects which seek to obtain resources that finance the activities. In any case, the question is connected to the discussions that the Munduruku have been engaged in over the last few years, on the defense of their territory and the preservation of natural resources and culture.