In addition to the research on Jatropha Curcas L. and spirulina, the Fazenda Tamanduá Institute studies and seeks forage plants as alternative sources of protein for animal feed. In fact, in the sertão, there is abundant protein during the rainy season, but during the drought the alternatives are very scarce. Two bushes are being studied:

* Flôr de cera (calotropis procera L.). Highly resistant to drought, planted densely, and harvested twice a year, it offers a very attractive amount of forage per hectare and an attractive protein content. It is chopped and immediately fed to the animals, or can be dried and stored.   

* Moringa (moringa oleifera Lam.) Planted densely, it also offers an original alternative for forage. When chopped, it is easily accepted by the animals, and it can be turned into hay.

An initial reflection is also being made regarding the use of oiticica oil, extracted from the fruit of the oiticica (licania rigida, Benth.), a typical leafy tree of the sertão’s riparian vegetation. The source of a cheap oil, used to harden the steel of weapons during the second world war, and more recently for soap production, the oiticica fruit was intensively sought and processed until the eighties.

This oil could be an alternative for various uses, such as bio-diesel, bio-lubricant or cosmetics.

Realizing that a great deal of riparian vegetation in the semi-arid region has been destroyed and needs to be re-planted, one could imagine a reforestation project for such areas with a good concentration of oiticica trees, thus presenting farmers an economically viable income alternative, in addition to the possibility of issuing carbon certificates within the scope of the Kyoto Protocol.