Fair Focuses on Sustainable and Indigenous Brazilian Products

By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Promoting sustainable foods and crafts produced by traditional and indigenous Brazilian communities, the Feira dos Povos e da Biodiversidade do Brasil (Fair of the People and Biodiversity in Brazil) opened to the public on August 18th, at Jardim Botânico in Rio de Janeiro.

The fair will remain in Jardim Botânico through August 21st and additionally will be held in Casa Brasil, the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s house in Praça Maua, on August 19th and 20th.

Taking place in partnership with the Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social e Agrário/MDSA (Ministry of Social and Agrarian Development), the fair will feature a wide range of participants including associations, cooperatives and marketing networks of indigenous peoples, African descendants, and fisherfolk, among other traditional communities.

The participants were selected from seven regions of Brazil; Amazônia, Caatinga, Cerrado, Costeiro and Marinho, Mata Atlântica, Pampa, and Pantanal.

Participants include the the Cooperativa de Produtores de Café Especial de Boa Esperança (Special Coffee Growers Cooperative of Boa Esperança) a cooperative of coffee producers founded in 2009; the Associação dos Produtores Artesanais de Queijo do Serro/APAQS (Association of Serro Cheese of Craft Producers), an association of over one hundred artisan cheese producers; and the Cooperativa dos Produtores de Açafrão de Mara Rosa/Cooperaçafrão (Cooperative of Mara Rosa Saffron Producers), a cooperative established by 23 farmers saffron and additional products in 2003 in the municipality of Mara Rosa in the state Goiás.

“Our expectation for this event is great. This is our first international event,” Paulo César Nunes, general coordinator of the Sentinelas da Floresta da Coopavama project, known for their Brazil nuts products, said in a released statement.

“We believe that an audience like this, the audience for the Olympics, has an exact awareness of the nutritional value of organic products, such as Brazil nuts, and an openness to understanding that behind this product, there are stories of the lives of people who are protecting and helping in the conservation of the environment.”

For additional information, see the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro website.

What: Feira dos Povos e da Biodiversidade do Brasil
When: August 18th through August 21st
Where: Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, R. Jardim Botânico, 1008 – Jardim Botânico
Casa Brasil, Avenida Rodrigues Alves, 10, Armazém 2, Gamboa. Operational hours are 10AM to 8PM.
Entrance: FREE. Product prices vary.