ENERGY - Odebrecht Informa

Antonio Nascimento with
his wife and youngest
son: “We now have
technical support and our
productivity has grown”
(280 km from the state capital, Salvador),
arose from the Landless Workers
Movement’s occupation of the area in
1998. Since then, the families have
organized, parceled out the land and
joined forces to develop their community.
Antonio Nascimento Santos, 64,
arrived in the region in 1996, along
with his wife and children, in search
of work. “I had nowhere to plant my
crops, but we managed that here.
Back then, my greatest desire was to
have a piece of land,” he recalls. The
farmer found a growth opportunity
when the Hearts-of-Palm Producers
Cooperative of the Southern Bahia
Lowlands (Coopalm) arrived in
the settlement in 2009. “In all these
years, the most important thing that
happened was the arrival of Coopalm.
We are partners. We get technical
support and have increased our
productivity,” he says.
Antonio’s expectations grow every
time he plants a peach palm. Within
two years, he will harvest about 750
stalks on a monthly basis, which will
net him BRL 1,100 per month from
that crop alone. “I want to produce
even more, and expand my property,”
says the farmer, who is ready to go to
work in the fields by 5 a.m. “All this
ensures that we bring in some cash
at the end of the month. That way
I can take care of my family and the
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