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Report 2 (of 5): Babassu Breakers
- Brazil
Introduction
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs)
- such as essences, oils, flours, nuts, fruits, honey
and resins - each have producers, processors, traders
and end users. Basic information about the journey
to market for each product is essential if local communities
wish to determine which products offer the greatest
opportunity for increasing income while conserving
their natural resource base. One of the main reasons
many producers of primary products remain poor is
that they do not benefit from the value their products
achieve in the final sale. Some community groups involved
in collecting NTFPs, however, generate a good, stable
income from activities whose products are sold under
fair trade conditions.
When local farmers and producers form
partnerships with traders or manufacturers nationally
or internationally, it can help to generate income
on the resale of their products. The 'babassu breakers'
of Maranhao in north-eastern Brazil demonstrate how
small-scale producers can forge an international trade
partnership that guarantees them a fair price. Women
from 12 communities turn locally grown babassu nuts
into oil, and this has been sold to The Body Shop
in the UK for nearly 10 years. Famous for creating
a niche market sector for nature-inspired skin and
hair care products, The Body Shop supports small producer
communities around the world, buying their products
and helping to protect the environment in the process.
This has provided the COPALJ cooperative of producers
from Maranhao State with a stable source of income
throughout a period of social turmoil.
Babassu
Babassu nuts have a reputation for being
the hardest nut on Earth. Babassu palms (Orbignya
phalerata) grow along the southern and eastern fringe
of Brazilian Amazonia in poorly developed provinces
such as Maranhao, occupying almost 29 million hectares.
For many the babassu palm is considered the 'tree of
life', providing an extremely important source of products
and income, mainly from its fruit. Flour, animal feed,
medicines and beverages can all be produced from the
fruit, while the seeds contain oil useful for cooking
and soap-making. Even the leaves provide thatch for
houses and can be woven into mats for constructing house
walls, while stems are used for timbers.
Breaking babassu nuts
© Oxfam
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The fruits of babassu look like small
coconuts, growing in clusters of a few dozen to several
hundred. Mature fruits begin to fall from their bunches
between August and November and continue to drop until
the rainy season begins in January and February. The
fruits are gathered and cracked to separate the oil-rich
kernel from the shell, which is later converted to
charcoal.
Babassu Collection in Maranhao
Women from indigenous communities
have occupied the Maranhao region of Brazil for over
four centuries. There are more than 400,000 households
who derive a simple livelihood from collecting and
processing babassu nuts. They call themselves the
quebradeiras de coco or 'nut breakers'. Women gather
to collect the ripe fruit from the ground in their
woven baskets. They break open the hard outer shells
under the trees using an upturned axe and a wooden
club.
Until about twenty years ago, vast
sections of forests were burned and cleared for cattle
grazing by landowners. The local people were forced,
often violently, from the land that had given them
access to areas where the palms grew. As fertile land
was lost to logging, many families lost their farms
and men struggled to find work. The collection and
processing of babassu nuts by women in the communities
became their main source of income.
Undeterred by the threats and violence,
the babassu nut breakers formed an association of
rural working women, known as AMTR, and successfully
lobbied local and federal officials to stop the clearing
of the palm forests. The association protects their
right to gather, harvest and sell the nuts. With the
help of a local cooperative called COPALJ, they are
now legally entitled go wherever they like and collect
babassu fruit. Babassu is the main cash crop in the
region, providing most of the family income.
Fair Trade Oil Producers
The Cooperative of Agro-extractivist
Producers Lago de Junco (COPALJ), comprising producers
from 12 communities in Maranhao, manages the pressing
of the babassu nuts into oil and sells the product
on the national and international market. A truck
comes to collect the nuts and transport them to the
small oil pressing factory nearby. The factory can
produce up to 90 litres (20 gallons) of oil per day.
The furnace is fuelled by burning the husk of the
babassu nuts, making the whole process environmentally
friendly.
The nuts are ground into a fine powder
and this is compressed to release the oil. It is decanted
from huge tanks every 10 days and poured into lined
200-litre (44-gallon) drums. From here it is transported
to the seaport of Forteleza and shipped overseas.
The cooperative also runs a shop where
babassu is considered local currency. Anyone can exchange
the nuts for goods or money once a week. The shops
have also benefited as continued business has enabled
them to open for longer hours and buy larger quantities
of goods at a better price. The shopkeepers themselves
have a higher turnover, enabling them to extend credit
to cooperative members.
Fair Trade
Fair trade is a growing international
movement which ensures that producers in poor countries
get a fair deal. Fair trade covers many commodities,
including coffee, tea, cocoa, honey, bananas and sugar.
Fair trade is concerned with better prices, decent
working conditions, local sustainability, respecting
the local environment, and fair terms of trade for
farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring
companies to pay above market prices, Fair trade addresses
the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally
discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers.
It removes the need for opportunistic middlemen and
enables producers to improve their livelihoods and
have more control over their lives.
The value of international trade to
developing countries has tripled in the last twenty
years, but the benefits of this trade are not shared
equally. When commodity prices fall dramatically it
can have a devastating impact on the lives of millions
of small-scale producers, forcing many into crippling
debt and countless others to lose their land and their
homes. However, the priorities of poor producers and
poor workers in developing countries differ. For small-scale
farmers and co-operatives the most important issue
is receiving a fair price for their product. Workers
who are employed - for example on tea plantations
or estates - are more concerned about wages and working
conditions. They want to know they will be paid decent
wages, guaranteed the right to join trade unions and,
in many cases, be provided with good housing.
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The Fairtrade mark for products in the UK
© The Fairtrade Foundation |
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It is important to remember that
'Fairtrade' refers to the specific labelling system
controlled by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International
(FLO) and its member organisations. It is an independent
consumer label that appears on products as a guarantee
that the producers have been given a better deal.
In the UK the mark is awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation,
a registered charity set up by the non-government
organisations (NGOs) CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam,
Traidcraft Exchange and the World Development Movement.
Community Trade
The Body Shop's Fair Trade Department
has been buying babassu oil from the COPALJ cooperative
since 1995 for use in products such as lotions and
lipsticks. Oil is shipped to The Netherlands and then
refined ready to be sent to the factory in England.
Selling the oil to The Body Shop has made a real difference
to local communities. Although most of the babassu
breakers are not members of the cooperative, everyone
benefits from the trade. Women producers all receive
the same price for the nuts from the cooperative and
it has given them respect and status within the community.
Now they don't have to worry about getting enough
to feed their families. The women even have enough
reserves to pay for school fees and medical checks.
The cooperative members have benefited too by gaining
more security and credibility, and have invested in
improving the oil press.
The Body Shop's community trade policy
is a targeted purchasing programme of accessories
and natural ingredients from disadvantaged communities
around the world. They buy good quality products at
a fair price that covers production and wages and
also enables communities to invest in their future.
Communities get a sustained source of income that
can, for example, be used for improving education
or sanitation, building homes and modernising farming
methods. Trading relationships are based on trust
and respect and aim to enable communities to work
towards their social and economic goals.
Community trade also aims to re-establish
the connections between producer and purchaser, origin
and destination, and community-based organisations
and retail shops. Community trade is vital because
it means that small-scale local enterprises, often
in remote areas, can benefit from an international
retailer's expertise and knowledge. Expert advice
on matters such as developing new customers, quality
control, new product development, diversification
and business planning can give communities an opportunity
to trade with an international company when they would
not normally have the chance to do so.
Sustainability
The partnership between The Body Shop
and the COPALJ cooperative has contributed towards
the conservation of the babassu palm and increased
awareness of its importance in other states in Brazil.
Buying the babassu oil under the banner of fair trade
has provided local communities with a sustained source
of income and helped empower them. Women now have
a greater say in their own livelihoods and development,
generating a sense of community spirit and sense of
well-being.
There is great potential for local
communities to benefit from the harvest, processing
and sale of NTFPs. If undertaken properly, such programmes
not only generate increased income, but can also safeguard
a community's natural resource base for future generations.
Seeking out business opportunities beyond local areas
enables communities to market their products, to receive
a fair price for them and often to ride the wave of
economic uncertainty.
For further information, please contact:
Information on Fair Trade
Information on non-timber forest
products
www.fao.org/forestry/FOP/FOPW/NWFP/new/nwfp.htm
The FAO's Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) website
has information about every aspect of NWFP, including
activities, publications (some listed below), country
information and links to other sites of interest.
Further Reading
Books with underlined titles can be
downloaded for free at the given web address. Others
can be ordered from the relevant postal address.
Books from ITDG Publishing
Social Responsibility in the Global
Market:Fair Trade of Cultural Products
Mary Ann Littrell
£21.00, Sage Publications Ltd, 1999, ISBN: 0761914641
Books from the New Internationalist
The No-Nonsense guide to... FAIR
TRADE
Edited by David Ransom
£7.00, NewInt
EarthPrint Books
Income generation from non-wood
forest products in upland conservation
US$11, FAO Conservation Guides, ISBN: 9251038465
Marketing information systems for
non-timber forest products
US$14, FAO (2000), Part of Community Forestry Field
Manual Series
Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) Books
Non-wood forest
products for rural income and sustainable forestry
Part of the non-wood forest products series
This volume outlines the approaches for assessing
the potential of NWFP activities in a particular area.
It is mainly addressed to policy-makers, researchers,
local extension workers, NGOs and others professionals
to identify and pursue possibilities for better management
of NWFPs. An outline of the kind of technical, institutional
and policy support required to promote NWFP activities
is also provided.
US$16, FAO, ISBN: 92-5-103765-5
Unasylva
Unasylva is an International journal of forestry and
forest industries published in English, Spanish and
French.
Website: www.fao.org/forestry/FODA/UNASYLVA/unasyl-e.stm
Email: Unasylva@fao.org
This document is an output from
a project funded by the UK Department for International
Development (DFID) and the European Commission (EC)
for the benefit of developing countries. The views
expressed are not necessarily those of DFID or the
EC.
Acknowledgements
ITDG would like to thank Elaine
Jones and Susanna Hodgson at The Body Shop for providing
much of the original material.
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