SAO PAULO, April 29 (Reuters) - The Bunge Foundation has

signed a cooperation agreement in Brazil to train indigenous

fire brigades in five states through 2029, according to a

statement on Tuesday.

The foundation, backed by U.S. grain trader and food

processor Bunge, said the partnership with Brazilian

environmental agency Ibama will support up to 40 indigenous

brigades, providing training and assistance to fight forest

fires in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Para,

Maranhao and Tocantins.

According to data from MapBiomas, a nonprofit land-use

research group, 30.80 million hectares (76.1 million acres)

burned in Brazil in 2024, an area larger than Italy, Bunge

Foundation said in the statement. That figure represents an

increase of 13.6 million hectares compared to 2023 and is the

largest burned area since 2019, the MapBiomas data showed. Some

three-fourths of the burned vegetation was native, the

foundation's statement said, citing MapBiomas.

In Brazil, fire has been used in agriculture for clearing

land to rear cattle or grow crops like soy. Scholars say that

historically, farmers have used fire to control pests or dispose

of waste.

Brazil is one of the world's biggest food producers and

exporters, and an important country for Bunge's operations.

Flavia Leite, general coordinator of Brazil's national

forest fire agency PrevFogo, said the partnership between Ibama

and the Bunge Foundation marks a key step in strengthening

actions against forest fires, combining efforts to protect

communities, conserve biodiversity and stand up to climate

change.

"The ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples is essential

for the conservation and monitoring of forests," said Claudia

Calais, executive director of the Bunge Foundation, in the

statement.