Ongoing
Cumbaru
Trains Pantanal women extractivists to sustainably manage and commercialize cumbaru, promoting autonomy and the formation of a formal women’s association.
Location
Location
Community
In the municipalities of Poconé and Barão Melgaço, the abundance of cumbaru trees has made them a source of income for Pantanal families, with quilombola women, family farmers, settlers, and Pantanal women being the main workers involved in cumbaru collection.
However, the current situation shows limited autonomy and participation of women in the commercialization stage of their products. After collecting the fruit to obtain seeds, women often lose space to men, who handle product sales, set prices, and determine sales conditions.
Currently, women sell their production (raw seeds) at R$0.60 per kilo, usually to cooperatives that later hire their labor to process the seeds and sell the final product at R$25.00 per kilo. The problem is that this added value does not return to the women, who only receive a daily wage for their processing work.
The Cumbaru Project aims to help change this scenario by investing in the strengthening of cumbaru processing into flours, cakes, and almonds through training and the promotion of a women-only formal association. This association will support women extractivists in accessing formal markets and selling directly to companies.
These women are family farmers, settlers, and Pantanal residents, all working as extractivists. The project seeks to empower them by promoting full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.
Species
Cumbaru (Dipteryx odorata)
Among the wide diversity of species found in the Pantanal, cumbaru plays an important role as a highly versatile species, widely used by traditional communities.
Its fruits are popularly known for their sweet pulp and a nut that can be consumed raw, although roasting is recommended. The extracted oil has culinary uses, medicinal applications for the treatment of rheumatism, and can also be used as a flavoring agent.
The nut is highly nutritious and rich in proteins and minerals such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and manganese. In addition, planting this species is recommended for the recovery of degraded areas.
Activities
Promote community participation through mobilization, organization, and project evaluation meetings
Several mobilization and organization meetings will be held with the communities in community hubs, in addition to gatherings for socio-productive planning and project evaluation, ensuring everyone’s participation in the process of designing and implementing activities.
Train agro-extractive families in the management, use, conservation, and pre-processing of Cerrado species
Workshops will be offered on sustainable management, use, conservation, and pre-processing of buriti, as well as workshops on the participatory organic certification process, which has CEDAC itself as the evaluation body, bringing various benefits to the producing families.
Organize the value chain of socio-biodiversity products with agro-extractive families and support their inclusion in a cooperative
This activity involves a partnership with Coopcerrado, which will coordinate, together with family farmers, the collection of fruits, storage, transportation, industrialization, and marketing of products during the buriti harvest. The entire process will be monitored by the Community Hub supervisors, who will keep records of the quantity produced and collected by each family.
Impact
01
Pantanal women’s association established
30
Pantanal women trained and ready to operate at the base of the Cumbaru value chain
01
New public policy proposed on the extraction of native fruits from the Pantanal
65
Square meters of office infrastructure built for the operationalization of the associations
Avon
Avon is part of the Natura&Co group, one of the world’s largest beauty groups, and has the purpose of empowering women and promoting their financial independence. With the aim of being the best beauty company in the world and for the world, Avon has a sustainability policy focused on commitment to life, addressing social issues such as equality and inclusion, and environmental issues such as the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.
Associação de Produtores Rurais de Nossa Senhora de Lourdes
The Rural Producers Association of the Nossa Senhora de Lourdes community was founded in 1998 in the traditional José Alves community in Mato Grosso. The organization, which brings together family farmers, settlers and Pantanal residents, aims to provide services that contribute to the promotion and rationalization of agricultural and livestock management and to improving the living conditions of its members.
VBIO.eco
A bioeconomy platform that enables projects to add value to Brazilian biodiversity. It has a multidisciplinary team with more than 12 years of experience in project management and corporate communication. Its work has enabled the implementation of 23 biodiversity valorization projects and created a network of over 500 organizations and companies active in socio-environmental causes.