Projekte

Kurzbeschreibung:

Projektziel

This business partnership promotes the production and marketing of organically grown high quality Mate in Brazil. In addition, smallholder farmers will be assisted in growing a variety of medicinal herbs and plants (e.g. marigolds, lemongrass, espinheira santa) to generate higher income for their families.

Erwartete Ergebnisse

In 2004, the French company RDV Productions SASU started to import natural products from Brazil. Today, RDV assists the cooperative COPAFLORA and the associated company Sabor do Mate in professionalizing their cultivation and processing methods.

By 2018, organic and Fairtrade certification will be extended to 80 hectares of agricultural land and 600 hectares of forests, doubling the area currently certified. By improving post-harvest processing the market value of the Mate produced by COPAFLORA will be increased by at least 20%. The value of Mate exported will increase by 300% from € 50,000 to € 150,000 per year. Furthermore, it is expected that the value of the other exported products (e.g. dried lemongrass) will amount to € 50,000 per year by the end of the project.

Zielgruppe

Target group of the project are 80 smallholder families, about 400 people, in the State of Paraná in Southern Brazil.

Maßnahmen

Sabor do Mate will establish a new Mate processing plant, creating 3 additional jobs and providing training to 9 employees. To enable smallholders to grow new products COPAFLORA will set up 15 demonstration fields for medicinal herbs and plants and organize specific training activities for the farmers. Simultaneously, the organic and Fairtrade certification process will be initiated and completed.

Hintergrundinformation

In Europe, demand for Mate has been increasing offering smallholders a sustainable source of income. The traditional way of processing Mate causes residues as the Mate leaves are exposed to smoke and open fire. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in a new Mate processing method replacing open fire by hot water.