São Paulo – Cumbaru nuts, from a tree native to the Brazilian savannah, may be consumed roasted or ground, in chocolates, biscuits or mixed into rapadura (dried sugarcane juice). Flour, made from the skin of the fruit, also has nutritional characteristics. The versatility and riches of cumbaru called the attention of the Mixed Cooperative of Rural Producers of Poconé (Comprup), which has been stimulating its associates to dedicate themselves to the activity, which has generated extra income for several families of producers.
"The associates are divided into two groups. Most of them, around 170 families, only pick the fruit at farms in the region and the others break them and collect the nuts," explained Jair José de Almeida, Comprup president. The factory, installed in the cooperatives offices, sells 150 to 200 kilograms of roasted cumbaru nuts a week.
According to Almeida, the main incentive to agricultural and extractivist projects and preservation of the environment is in expansion of the market and of products based on cumbaru. The cooperative is currently already negotiating sales of the nut in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás and São Paulo. "The fact that Poconé is a tourist city and is close to the Pantanal (wetlands in Mato Grosso state) has simplified the trade of the product with other states," explained Almeida. The next step is to reach the whole of Brazil and, in future, the foreign market.
"Exporting is still just a dream. When the cooperative was established, in 1994, there were just 20 associates. There are currently over 200. We do not yet know if there is market for the product abroad, but due to its characteristics and nutritional value, there probably is," he pointed out. "We are in no hurry. Taking a step at a time we should get far," he pointed out. "We are working on a project that forecasts the construction of a nursery with native plants to help producers increase local production. But it is all connected to our getting financial return," he added.
Apart from supporting the associates, Comprup also stimulates sustainable exploration projects in areas of agrarian reform and in traditional communities in Poconé. "Around a year ago, farmers from the region organised a training course with settlers to process the nut. There is even an association that works with this product in the city, the Quilombola Association of Capão Verde Community," stated the president.
Comprup sells a multimixture, cumbaru nut and flour as well as raw materials like bananas, pumpkins, cassava and vegetables, also supplied by the associates.
Contact
E-mail: comprup@brturbo.com.br
Telephone: (+55 65) 3345-1747
*Translated by Mark Ament
