Carnauba production chain - Good practices manual

and international attention. As a result, efforts from various institutions have intensified to qualify the carnauba production chain.

There are many challenges in the sector. We may highlight some of them: • High informality in the employment relations between producers and extractive workers, often in disregard of labor legislation; • Social vulnerability of the extractive worker communities; • Extractive producers and workers with poor access to information; • Infestation of the invasive species Cryptostegia madagascariensis, known as rubber vine, devil’s claw or devil’s nail, that causes the death of inappropriately managed carnauba forests; • Carnauba deforestation for the installation of other enterprises; • Difficulties in tracing the production between the collection area and its arrival at industries; • Low technology and productivity in the extraction process, mainly from straw collection to the removal of the ceriferous powder; • Small producers with poor access to credit; • Lack of constant training in good management practices and work safety for extractive workers.

Thus, this manual is a good practice guide aimed at contributing to the qualification of the carnauba production chain in its multiple aspects and trying to best respond to the challenges posed above.

It is intended for extractive workers, producers, shift leaders, tenants, consolidators (middlemen), companies, and all those involved in this unique productive cycle. We created and we want to disseminate this material for these actors to be able to understand more about their rights and duties and for this activity to be increasingly sustainable, respecting the environment and the dignity of the people.