Community-Based Brazil Nut Processing Plant Receives Export License

Community-Based Brazil Nut Processing Plant Receives Export License
Photo: PPA
ASSOAB acquires raw nuts from 126 families from traditional communities

April, 2022 - The Beruri Farmers Association (ASSOAB) is the first community-based Brazil nut processing plant certified by the Ministry of Agriculture in Brazil As a result, ASSOAB will now be able to export the nuts produced by its members. 

The certification (known as CGC) is granted to individuals or businesses that, for example, sell, industrialize or control the quality of standardized plant-based products. 

"Certification favors our sector, which needs incentives to give more visibility to different production chains. As the bioeconomy becomes stronger, one chain strengthens the other. Society has started valuing sociobiodiversity products as essential for the region's economy, together with environmental development and the maintenance of natural resources," says Sandra Amud, president of ASSOAB.

Sandra Amud is the association’s first woman president. ASSOAB acquires raw Brazil nuts from 126 families from the Itixi Mitari Indigenous Land and from the Piagaçú-Purus Sustainable Development Reserve, and provides formal employment to 60 people, 40% of whom are women. According to Sandra, thanks to this new certification and the possibility of exporting their products and decrease in pandemic numbers, sales are expected to grow considerably. 

For over 20 years, ASSOAB has provided assistance to small farmers and cattle rangers in the municipality of Beruri. The association benefits two groups: non-extractive producers who are directly employed by agroindustrial enterprises, and extractive producers who sell their production to the association at a fair price. 

ASSOAB currently has 91 registered suppliers. It manages the largest Brazil nut processing plant in Beruri, and provides direct and indirect jobs to about 60 people. Their work has ensured the sustainability of extractive activities, and promoted social and economic equality among its associates, respecting traditional values and the principles of forest preservation. 

The association is a part of the PCAB Value Chain project.Sandra was a participant in the first SEMEAR Castanha training courses. During the pandemic, support from the project helped to keep the association afloat.