Project Elo

Overview

Elo works as part of Projeto Dom Helder Camara (PDHC), a local government-based enterprise, which supports agriculture, social development and local infrastructure. Such links are vital to enable successes to be shared and for the community to grow.

Cashew still accounts for 20 per cent of crops harvested in Nordeste Brazil. Elo is helping participants to diversify and explore new agricultural opportunities.

Elo translates literally as ‘link’ which is exactly what the project aims to do: link farmers together to share knowledge and exchange information with the hope of increasing marketability of their crops.

Cashew is a traditional crop for Nordeste Brazil, but traditional processing methods are labour intensive, wasteful and reliant on third party traders. Elo is providing farmers with the knowledge and equipment to harvest, process and market their cashews. Greater control enables farmers to become a more respected partner, affording them an independence which has bred a culture of pride and a sense of ownership among the farming community.

Many farmers are also finding success with bee keeping and are now producing good harvests of both honey and wax. In some areas, local authorities are buying honey from the farmers and distributing it among schools as a dietary supplement for children. And honey production, in its turn, helps preserve biodiversity.

Elo is also supporting fish farming initiatives. Even in the semi-arid areas, there is potential for fisheries. Thanks to Project Elo many farmers are having commercial success. Previously, they caught only enough to feed their families, the farmers with new skills and knowledge are now able to supply fish to local markets on a regular basis. Increased investment in cool storage and transportation will improve the opportunity for fisheries still further.

One of the next steps for some partners is gaining organic certification of their crop and thereby entering higher value market niches.

Update 2006

Cashews, a major crop in Nordeste Brazil, have been selected by Projeto Elo as the most suitable commodity for building ‘go-to-market’ competency among farmers.

The country produces about 20% of the world’s total supply of cashew nuts. A five step process is required to process the nuts into finished products, like snacks and oils that have a substantially greater value on the open market than the raw material. However, technical standards in storage, grading and transportation, must be strictly regulated.

While large producers have a full understanding of each stage of the process, for the small-scale farmer, converting a raw kernel into a finished product, then bringing it to market, requires financial support and expert advice.

The process of selecting the commodity and identifying required support began with Sarah Cordeiro Vidal, Coordinator for Projeto Elo, travelling across one million square kilometres to meet communities that could potentially participate in the project. “With each group, we discussed a wide array of subjects, including the possibilities of commercializing cereals, livestock, honey and medicinal plants. I would often stay a week in one place to gain a deeper understanding of the community. Representatives from each of the project partners also took part, with technicians from Projeto Dom Helder Camara (PDHC), of which Projeto Elo is an integral part.

“We’re also very fortunate to have the Brazilian Agricultural Research Enterprise (EMBRAPA) as a partner. They have tremendous expertise in working with cashews,” said Sarah.

Fourteen groups were selected to participate. Each group was engaged in cashew production, most had received support from PDHC for the purchase of processing equipment.

Wide variations in processing were apparent across the groups. Some had never used the government-supplied equipment because they chose to sell the raw nuts. While others had each processed the cashews with a different method.

The groups have worked together to plan, monitor and evaluate projects. A comprehensive five year plan was completed and farmer groups will now submit business plans to the Projeto Elo.

2005 Update

Small-scale farmers in the Nordeste tap into local markets

Brazil is a country of spectacular contrasts, rich in natural resource, with large, commercial agriculture that fuels the largest economy in Latin America. Against this prosperous backdrop stands the semi-arid northeast, with over one million square kilometres of poor degraded soils.

The area is called the Caatinga, “the grey land”, for the monochrome that predominates during drought, which lasts as long as nine months of the year. Almost 25 million people live here, making a living from farming and raising livestock to feed their families. Some of the tools haven’t changed from one generation to the next.

Families must cultivate about 50 hectares of land to survive, although if irrigation were available less than a tenth of that area would be sufficient. Little new technology is available to improve the production of food, as well as higher-value, cash crops. There is scant access to credit and market regulations are not understood. In short, traditional agricultural producers are unable to benefit from access to more lucrative markets.

In March of this year, to help improve rural livelihoods in the region, the Syngenta Foundation agreed to support Projeto Elo (“Project Link”), which is part of Projeto Dom Helder Camara (PDHC), a regional development agency engaged in livelihood improvement programmes with approximately 6,000 rural families. In a recent success story, PDHC trained farmers to locally process and package cashew nuts, then located wholesalers who would offer a higher price. In another example, 450 rural families were able to improve irrigation in organic horticulture, and were helped to improve their marketing practices.

The project will support innovative proposals by local farmers that improve productivity, diversify production and promote better access to markets.

Project identification is now underway. “I travel to each location where PDHC has a presence, handing out materials that explain, at a very grassroots level, the kinds of proposals we are looking for. A committee will review each proposal and PDHC, which has over 70 technical experts on staff, will conduct viability studies,” says Sarah Cordeiro Vidal, Project Coordinator.“We may be a very small stone, but we can make a big difference.”