Geovana Pagel*
geovana.pagel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Diversification of sustainable forestry products is one of the alternatives that the Cooperative of Extractors from the Forests of Rondônia (Coopflora) has found in order to create jobs and generate income to local families. The 45 cooperative members in the municipalities of Machadinho do Oeste and the Anari Valley produce the "forest cloth," a product derived from latex extracted from the rubber tree. They turn it into purses and accessories. The items are already sold in several Brazilian states – São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Paraná -, and should arrive at the foreign market in 2008.
"Some of our clients have already sent samples to Europe, but we did not receive any concrete feedback yet with regard to closing deals, " says the president at Coopflora, Erni Santos Lima. According to him, the cooperative has existed for three years now, and the project for improving the living conditions of rubber extractors is in keeping with the methodology for Result-Oriented Strategic Management (Geor) of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae).
"Upon developing the cloth, Sebrae brought chemicals aimed at helping reduce the strong smell of rubber. A market acceptance survey was conducted too, a warehouse was structured, and sewing machines were purchased," he explains. According to Lima, the production technique for the "forest cloth" was devised by extractors themselves. The process begins with the collection of the native rubber tree latex. After being treated, the latex is applied onto a base of cloth that has been prepared and spread upon a table. Afterwards, it undergoes vulcanisation. The resulting cloth is exposed to the sun for "curing" for forty days. Only then it is screened and then turned into purses and accessories. Creation is collective and the former extractors, now artisans, use colourful threads and Amazonian seeds to ornate the pieces.
Extractors are trained by the group members themselves. "Whenever someone discovers a new technique, they pass it on to the others. It is done with solidarity, i.e., with each new extractor that joins the project, an associate goes to the place he lives and works in and spends a week there, transmitting knowledge to him," says the president.
The results of the work, according to Lima, are very encouraging. "The change that is taking place in the lives of these extractors is huge. Some of them have managed to increase their income by 100%. On average, they earn 500 reals (US$ 277) per month with the purses," he states.
In October this year, Coopflora participated in Biofach Latin America, the leading Brazilian fair for organic products, held in the southeastern city of São Paulo. The purses were also handed as a gift to the Presidency of the Republic. Now, the cooperative seeks companies that are willing to develop products using the cloth. Interested parties may write to e-mail address coopflora@gmail.com.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
