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March 2004 |
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Fairtrade
Seal |
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Compost |
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The Fairtrade Seal: the
first informative meeting
for Fazenda Tamanduá workers |
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In November, Fazenda Tamanduá received the Fair Trade
Labeling Organizations International seal for its
mango production, giving recognition to its work and
its social impact in the region. In January, Fazenda
Tamanduá's first informative meeting for workers was
held. Around 60 people attended, representing all the
farm’s working areas: tractor drivers, cowboys,
mechanics, women workers from the cheese factory and
the dehydration unit, in addition to 20 temporary
workers, rural workers, and sharecroppers or
smallholders coming from neighboring farms.
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Around 60 people were present |
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Iranise Pedro presenting the Fair Trade steps |
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In order to ensure a clear and independent message, we
asked for the help of Iranise Pedro, who holds a
degree in Social Communications and Psychology from
the Rio de Janeiro Federal University. Iranise has
also done specialization courses in Corporate Social
Responsibility in the State of São Paulo, and in
Appreciative Investigation at the Weatherhead School
of Management, Case Western University, in Cleveland,
USA. At present she works at AxialPar as a
Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
Manager, developing her work at the company Rio de Una
in São José dos Pinhais, State of Paraná.
After a presentation on the major principles of fair
trade and the work of the Fair Trade Labeling
Organization, the need to form a group of 3 to 6
people to represent all the workers was explained. Its
main role will be to manage the premium paid by Fair
Trade.
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Next, 6 groups were formed; each of which was asked to
make some suggestions for the use of the funds, to
everyone’s benefit.
The main ideas mentioned were the installation of a
canteen; the implementation of a system of visits by a
family doctor, especially for preventive medicine; a
day-care center; a health plan; improvement in the
education system; and leisure, with football, cinema
and internet access.
The group dynamic was perfect, with the active
participation of each person, which will ensure very
advantageous results for all in the future. |
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Everyone participate of the group dynamic |
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The group dynamic was perfect, with the active participation
of each person, which will ensure very advantageous results
for all in the future. The election of the “Joint Body” was
fixed for the beginning of August, at the “Casa de Zé Bié”
Center, with a forró party to follow. The people’s only
reason for sadness was that this premium will only come at the
end of the next mango harvest, that is, in almost a year’s
time! |
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Compost for Organic Production
at Fazenda Tamanduá
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With a view to using its own raw materials, seeking a
balance between its production and the environment,
Fazenda Tamanduá, located in the municipality of Santa
Terezinha, in the State of Paraíba, makes ever greater
efforts, investing in alternatives in which preservation
and productivity go hand in hand.
Over
the years, the farm has received trainees from several
regions of the country and from abroad, offering those who
come an exchange of knowledge. It was based on this
principle that Emanoelle Negrine, from the State of Rio
Grande do Sul, an Agronomy student at the Pelotas Federal
University, had the opportunity to witness a diversity
never seen in her own region. Like all other trainees who
have visited the farm, she was invited to put forward
ideas that might be added to the farm’s existing
activities; and coming as a trainee exclusively in the
compost production area, she focused her work primarily on
a study of the composition of the materials used in the
compost. |
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Emanoelle
Negrine |
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Preparing the compost |
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With the interest and consent of the owner, Pierre Landolt,
this work was started based on the analysis of the raw
materials used in the compost, coming from species found
on the farm, such as Jurema - Preta (Mimosa
hostilis Benth.), oiticica (Licania rigida
Benth), Algaroba (Prosopsis juliflora
DC.) and Mango (Mangifera indica), and animal
refuse such as cow and goat manure, in addition to the use
of Irecê phosphate, MB4 (rock powder), milk whey and
ashes.
The analyses of the material used for
compost are being done at the laboratory of the Rural
Health and Technology Center of the Campina Grande Federal
University (UFCG), at Patos – PB, supervised by Professor
Dr. Gilmar Trindade de Araújo and carried out by the
trainee herself, seeking results relating to the
composition of the material used and the quality of the
compost produced in the composting process. |
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When this stage is concluded, and with the supervision of
professor Dr. Jacob Silva Souto, of the Forestry
Department of the UFCG, it will be possible to produce
separate compost heaps in the field with different
compositions, putting together one or more types of
vegetable residues, in appropriate proportions, seeking a
satisfactory balance for the process. From the time the
compost in the field is prepared, periodic monitoring of
certain variables will be carried out, so that this
compost may have balanced nutrients, taking advantage of
the organic refuse in a balanced way and thus giving
better results. This work also includes a change in the
handling in the field, with research into alternatives
that would reduce humidity loss, as we cannot forget that
this farm is situated in a region where the sunshine rate
and the scarcity of water are primary factors in any
agricultural or livestock raising activity. |
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Compost piles |
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