The arrival of the rains and the end of the dry season in the Amazon also signifies the closing of a cycle of activities for projects linked to ISPN in the forest.
This was the case with the “Menire Project – the strength of Mebengokre women comes from the Forest”, by the Raoni Institute (IR), which we will discuss in this publication.
The Mebengokre Kayapó women find in the black Cumaru seed a way to earn a living and organize the struggle of their people in the region. The activity takes place in the Piaraçu village, located in the Capoto Jarina Indigenous Land, on the banks of the Xingu River, and is about 5km from a dirt road, by which they reach the forest.
The journey to harvest Cumaru involves a car trip and a hike deep into the forest. This is a way for the women to generate income for the entire community while also conserving the forest, which suffers from all kinds of pressure from agribusiness. The road that takes them to the forest is the same one that transports soy and other monoculture products from the region.
Kayapó leaders are working to improve the production of Cumaru, which, in addition to being a source of income, is also a sacred seed for the people of the region, with medicinal properties. They are also beginning to produce seedlings so that Cumaru can be cultivated right there in the community's fields.
The Menire Project worked in this direction: supporting the production and processing of Cumaru.
When Covid cases began to decrease, the Kayapó women were finally able to reunite. At that time, field expeditions were carried out to collect 1300 kg of seeds, in addition to mapping parent trees, meetings and conversations between villages about the execution of the project, and discussions for improving productive organization, with a training workshop for collectors.
The activities involved two indigenous territories and three different peoples, with 53 families harvesting Cumaru nuts and another 30 involved in enriching their fields and orchards.
We at ISPN were able to visit the Kayapó territory in June, when we held a Capacity Building Workshop on Project Development.
And with that, we celebrate the success of the Menire Project, which strengthens the work of the Kayapó people and the path towards building the Food Sovereignty we aspire to.
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Photo: ISPN Archive.