Project in process | Community Development
Buriti dos Sertões de Minas
Location
50 rural communities in the municipalities of Montes Claros, Mirabela, Coração de Jesus, Ibiracatu, Januária, Brasília de Minas, Chapada Gaúcha, Lontra, Japonvar, São João da Ponte, São João das Missões, Miravânia, Montalvânia, Bonito de Minas, Cônego Marinho, São Francisco and Grão Mogol, in the north of Minas Gerais.
Despite the low IDH Human Development Index (HDI), this region has rich biodiversity, presenting the opportunity for development of a variety of bioeconomy products and services that could stand out both regionally and nationally for their quality.
Species: Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa)
Native to the Cerrado and Amazon regions, this palm tree is also known as miriti or swamp palm, moriche, carangucha, and aguaje. It occurs naturally in permanently flooded areas, known as “veredas” or marshes. All parts of the plant can be used, and its fruit ranks among the highest in vitamin A content worldwide.
Before the harvest period, collectors roam through the buriti palm groves to count and note the number of clusters, gaining an estimate of their potential yield. During this phase, they can also create pathways or collection trails within the forest, linking mature fruit-bearing palms. This facilitates easier fruit collection and transportation during the harvest.
The ripe fruits are harvested when they fall from the tree, as cutting the bunches from the palm tree is considered more time-consuming and dangerous, and many collectors believe that cutting the bunch from the reduces the yield of the buriti in the next harvest.
Community history
Currently, agroextractivist families in the northern region of Minas Gerais live in rural areas within municipalities with low Human Development Index (HDI), these areas are quite remote from major urban centers and the families have low income levels. The vast majority of agroextractivists are women who occupy small plots of land and need to complement extractivism in third-party areas and/or adopt some conservation practices on their own properties to regenerate and/or restore ecosystems. It's noticeable that some conservation practices in the Cerrado region of northern Minas Gerais are overlooked due to a lack of incentives, awareness within families, and commercial value appreciation.
Approximately 600 families of extractive farmers, involved in sustainable collection of Cerrado fruits, especially buriti, will directly benefit from the project. Additionally, over 1,000 families engaged in the activities of the Grande Sertão Cooperative will indirectly benefit from the project's initiatives.
Historical impacts:
2003 - Formalization of the Cooperativa Grande Sertão
2004 – Start of marketing products
2010 – Start of research to produce buriti oil and construction of the oil factory
2016 – The Cooperative’s largest buriti harvest
2022 - Formalization of Boticário’s support for the “Buriti dos Sertões de Minas” project
Full name:
Strengthening the buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) production chain in the north of the State of Minas Gerais
Duration:
24 months.
Biome:
Cerrado.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
The project
The “Buriti dos Sertões de Minas” project’s main objective is to invest in the value chain of buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) and other fruits from the Cerrado biome, it seeks to connect these initiatives with diverse marketing channels, fostering synergy between local and regional enterprises while engaging extractive communities in the processes of training, product enhancement, and collaborative knowledge building. As a result, the project aims to contribute to the development of high-quality products with increased added value in the market, thereby supporting income generation and stimulating economic growth within these communities.
50
extractive communities in the buriti production chain and other Cerrado fruits benefited
10%
increase in the volume of Cerrado products delivered sold by the cooperative
400
hectares of area mapped to verify conservation processes and the need to build new strategies for sustainable buriti management
200
extractivists trained for sustainable production and territorial management
1
deposit of application for registration of Geographical Indication for buriti in the north of Minas Gerais
1
sustainable buriti extraction manual/protocol
Project impacts
Project activities
Strengthen the structuring, dissemination and promotion of the Cooperative
Several meetings will be held with universities and local partners to develop strategies for implementing activities and publicizing the project's actions, additionally technical exchanges will focus on building new commercial partnerships for Cerrado products.
Invest in sustainable use techniques and traceability of Buriti and other fruits from the Cerrado
Technical visits will be conducted to communities engaged in sustainable buriti extraction to apply questionnaires for registering families and gathering socioeconomic and environmental information. During this phase, geographical coordinates of the buriti occurrences will be collected, ensuring product traceability. Training sessions will also be held to enhance knowledge exchange among extractivists, focusing on best practices in management, manufacturing, and seedling production.
Promote agro-industrial qualification and quality management of Buriti derivatives
The adaptation of an 82m² room at the buriti oil extraction factory will be carried out, to enable sanitary legalization with VISA – Municipal Health Surveillance, this aims to maintain a space destined for the processing of buriti by-products. In pursuit of continuous improvement of products, equipment and utensils will also be purchased, as well as technical procedures that will increase the nutritional and sanitary quality of buriti derivatives.
Proceed with the study and characterization of the buriti production chain for possible registration of Geographical Indication – GI
Geographical Indication (GI) is a registration given to products or services that are characteristic of their place of origin, granting them reputation, intrinsic value and their own identity. In this activity, qualitative and quantitative research will be conducted, aimed at carrying out a survey and characterizing the buriti production chain for possible registration of a GI.
Realization
Grupo Boticário
One of the largest beauty groups in the world, Grupo Boticário is a Brazilian company present in 50 countries. It owns the brands O Boticário, Eudora, Quem Disse, Berenice?; BeautyBox, Vult, O.u.i, Dr. JONES, Truss and the Beleza na Web marketplace, in addition to working with licensed products such as Australian Gold and its division for the B2B market. This interaction between different brands, assets, platforms, network of franchisees, representatives, distributors, retailers, sellers and suppliers forms the beauty ecosystem of Grupo Boticário, which also offers digital business management solutions for Brazilian retail through its brands Mooz, Casa Magalhães and GAVB. There are more than 15 thousand direct employees, with more than 4 thousand points of sale in 1,780 Brazilian cities.
Guided by responsible action towards the planet, society and consumers, the company has ESG embedded in its business model. By 2030, the Group plans to expand the positive impact on society through waste management with the “A Beauty of the Future” platform, which brings together ambitious commitments focused on the human, environmental dimensions and our production processes.
The history of Grupo Boticário began in 1977 in a small compounding pharmacy in Paraná and today it combines laboratory, factory, innovation, technology, logistics, marketing and retail, in an ecosystem of 64 thousand retail points of sale, partners and suppliers. The company also operates on environmental, social and cultural fronts and has operations with Fundação Grupo Boticário and Instituto Grupo Boticário. Find out more at www.grupoboticario.com.br
Cooperativa Grande Sertão
Established in 2003, it seeks to benefit and commercialize different semi-arid products, which are developed according to agroecological principles. Furthermore, the actions developed by the cooperative aim to improve the quality of life of members and consumers in general, as well as conserving the environment. Grande Sertão has productive activities that involve approximately 200 communities located in 30 municipalities that are expanding.
VBIO.eco
Bioeconomy platform that enables projects to value Brazilian biodiversity. It has a multidisciplinary team with more than 12 years of experience in project management and corporate communication. Its work has already enabled the operation of 23 projects to enhance biodiversity and created a network of more than 500 organizations and companies active in the socio-environmental cause.
