The Central do Cerrado online store brings together more than 30 associations and cooperatives from different parts of the country.
Baru, jatobá, pequi, umbu. Regional ingredients that symbolize the biodiversity found in Brazilian flavors. The harvest from the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes inspires farmers residing in some territories of these biomes — Minas Gerais, Federal District, Tocantins, Bahia, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, Piauí, Pará, and Goiás — to process food products and produce handicrafts with cultural richness that guarantees autonomy and income.
Communities of family-based extractive farmers are the protagonists of this work, which rarely finds its way onto supermarket shelves. Together they form Central do Cerrado: a cooperative made up of more than 30 community organizations (including cooperatives and associations) that acts as a bridge between producers and consumers. In times of strengthening delivery services, Central is launching a new platform where internet users from anywhere in the country can find more than 200 items and receive them without leaving home.
“With the COVID-19 situation and social isolation, many of these communities have had their production distribution compromised. Selling through the online store is a way to distribute the products of these communities and guarantee income for agro-extractive families. Commercialization helps to keep the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes standing, conserve native biodiversity, encourages people to remain in rural areas, and values local culture and the traditional way of life,” emphasizes the executive secretary of Central do Cerrado, Luis Roberto Carrazza.
The agro-industries of the producer communities in the Central do Cerrado region operate while observing basic precautions such as social distancing, mask use, increased personal hygiene, and sterilization of equipment and supplies: details also observed by the Central do Cerrado team in the preparation and shipment of orders from the online store.
Products of socio-biodiversity
Among the purchase options are foods such as specialty flours, highlighting babassu mesocarp (500g, R$ 15) from the Cooperativa dos Pequenos Produtores Agroextrativistas de Esperantinópolis (Coopaesp) of the traditional community of coconut breakers, in Esperantinópolis, Maranhão; buriti flour (1 kg, R$ 50) from the Grande Sertão de Montes Claros cooperative, Northern Minas Gerais — in addition to non-GMO corn flakes (500g, R$ 7) (raw material for Northeastern couscous) from the Cooperativa Agropecuária Mista Regional de Irecê (Copirecê), in Irecê, Bahia.
Brazilian nuts also feature prominently on the new website, including the baru nut from the Copabase cooperative (300g, R$35), a super protein-rich and energizing nut, one of the great icons of the Cerrado region. The pequi nut (100g, R$15), rarely used by chefs, is also among the oilseeds offered by Central do Cerrado, alongside the roasted licuri almond (100g, R$7) from the Cooperativa de Produção da Região do Piemonte da Diamantina (Coopes), also called coquinho in Bahia and rich in protein. In the beverage category, the page presents the pequi liqueur from the family-owned brand Savana Brasil (700ml, R$70) and the sour coconut fruit beer (600ml, R$25) from the Grande Sertão cooperative in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais.
In addition to the products, internet users can find information about the social and territorial origins of the producing communities. The platform's content includes recipes, technical specifications, and usage tips.
Learn more about Central do Cerrado
Central do Cerrado is a cooperative formed by various community organizations of family farmers who practice extractive activities in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. Our mission is to maintain traditional ways of life and the conservation of the territories where these people live, through the commercialization of products developed using the sustainable use of native biodiversity.