Empowerment and sustainability in the same project? Yes, we support such an initiative in Northern Brazil

Get to know the ‘Mulheres do Xingu’ Project which, supported by Cargill and the Imaflora Institute, assists in the socioeconomic development of entrepreneur women in the sector of fruit-made products.

“We thought we weren't qualified, but we showed that we are capable, and we can set up our own business”, that's how Maria Josefa Machado Neves defined the evolution of the Association of Women Fruit Pulp Producers (AMPPF, Associação das Mulheres Produtoras de Polpa de Fruta, in Portuguese), organization of which she is president.

Maria is part of a group of 50 entrepreneur women in Pará state, in the North region of Brazil and, when faced with socioeconomic problems, they sought alternatives and rely on subsidies that help to strengthen the agroindustry of cocoa derivatives. For this, the entrepreneurs have Cargill and Imaflora Institute support.

“Imaflora is a non-governmental organization that exists since 1995. We operate along different lines and one of them is the ‘Florestas de Valor’ program, developed in North Pará state”, explains Celma Oliveira, Project Coordinator at Imaflora.

The ‘Mulheres do Xingu Project’ was started in 2020 with the aim of professionalizing the AMPPF women, in São Félix do Xingu, Pará state, through training and coaching focused on management development. Since then, the number of participants has increased and the work scope has developed over time, always focused on women's empowerment.

"The issue of gender still has a long way to go. We know that, especially in rural areas, women's transition to the market needs a lot of support from society, to create the conditions so they can actually have equal and fair access to the resources they need to produce," explains Heidi Buzato, from Imaflora.

In addition, it is an initiative fully aligned with Cargill's global commitments to sustainability, as part of the Cargill Cocoa Promise, a strategy for implementing and executing actions that improve the economic, social, and environmental conditions of cocoa producers, their families and the communities where they are located, guaranteeing the longevity and sustainability of the cocoa sector for future generations.

"We have the support of the industry now, there are the training courses we are doing, and we will diversify our products. We are family farmers and sometimes have limited resources, so their support is key to make things happen. It has brought financial independence to us, which I believe to be the most important", explains Maria Helena Gomes, associate of AMPPF.

The project was supported by Cargill for an agribusiness to be formed. "The idea is that it is a new source of income for these women and, in addition to being a source that will support family composition, it also creates an ecological balance through agroforestry systems," explains Érica Pereira, Cocoa and Chocolate Sustainability Coordinator at Cargill.

Thus, in addition to fostering socioeconomic advances, the initiative also generates environmental gains. The ‘Mulheres do Xingu’ Project aims at reforestation and environmental adequacy in the region, actions linked to our commitment at Cargill to sustainability.

We can visualize the environmental results from the recovery of degraded areas on beneficiary families' properties and reductions in illegal deforestation. In addition, there was a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through the adoption of sustainable production practices. The reuse of waste generated by agroindustry was also the project subject.

“Socioeconomically strengthened, women are able to combine environmental preservation and production. And so, they keep the forest standing and recovers degraded areas through the agroforestry systems implementation, subsidized by fruit seedlings and forest essences produced in the AMPPF nursery”, says Celma Oliveira.

The Project also won the ADEPARÁ artisan seal, which authorizes the sale of pulp production in the state. The certification was possible based on compliance with several parameters following a technical regulation and validation by inspection, guaranteeing the hygienic-sanitary quality of the products developed by the entrepreneurs.

As a result, the focus on female rural entrepreneurship and the development of technical management skills has also ensured the empowerment of other women in other communities in the region, as indicated by the increase in participants during the project. In doing so, we helped the region to continue evolving in favor of a more equitable and promising scenario for female entrepreneurs.