The ‘Cidades Florestais’ Project provides technical and logistical support to the association which has been able to reestructure itself during these last years thanks to Idesam’s help

By Idesam
Translated by Felipe Sá
Photo: Henrique Saunier

Last tuesday (12/17) Idesam brokered the delivery of the first effectively tracked batch of Copaíba from the riverine communities of Apuí’s (AM) region to a company that works selling natural products. Over 600 kilograms of Copaíba carry the new collective brand which was specially created for products of the Amazon’s cooperativism: Inatú. In addition to the new brand, the Copaíba that is being sold comes with a QR code that gathers all the information about its origin, the Aripuanã-Guariba Agroextractivist Settlement Project.

The first sale using QR code had already been made to the same company but during the pilot phase of the ‘Cidades Florestais’ (Forest Cities, in English) Project, which is responsible for the technical support and management of the initiative. This is just one of the sales of a contract signed with the company to supply Copaíba, what was only possible thanks to a restructuring work of the Aripuanã-Guariba Agroextractivist Association (ASAGA, in Portuguese) carried out by Idesam and the local community.

With these and other contracts signed by the association, which is now structured, the region’s extractivists can get a fairer price for their products. Each kilogram had an appreciation of over 70% if compared to what was previously practiced by the local middlemen.

All the information made available by the QR code is provided by the producers themselves, who can submit data while still in the field using the ‘Cidades Florestais’ application. This is kept registered in the system and uploaded as soon as the devide has access to the Internet. Idesam was responsible for managing the development of the application, training the association’s team that receives the collected batches and teaching the producers how to use the application.

Besides showing the source of the product, the use of the ‘Cidades Florestais’ application also helps producers to have a better control of their expenses by registering the costs of each step of the harvest.

“All of this ensures the origin of the product, shows that it comes from an association of traditional producers and from an Agroextractivist Settlement Project which is being conserved. This is a very important information for a company because it can also pass it on to its customers”, says André Vianna, coordinator of the ‘Cidades Florestais’ Project.

About the ‘Cidades Florestais’ Project

The ‘Cidades Florestais’ Project began in 2018 aiming at promoting the forest economy of municipalities in the interior of the Amazon. This takes place through supporting forest, timber and vegetable oil production chains of communities and families from the following municipalities: Apuí, Carauari, Itapiranga, São Sebastião do Uatumã, Silves, Lábrea and Boa Vista do Ramos (check ou the map at the bottom of the screen).

The project’s actions are carried out by Idesam with support from the Amazon Fund/BNDES and, currently, 14 social organizations participate in these actions concerning: Implementation of digital platform and application to support the management of community production; Preparation of Forest Management Plans and technical assistance until the commercialization of production; Implementation of new forestry equipment and machinery; Installation of the ‘Rede de Óleos da Amazônia’ (Oils from the Amazon Network, in English) anticipating the construction of two new mini vegetable oil extraction plants and structural and managerial support to three other existing plants.

For more photos, check out our Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmK6Z3K3