The government-owned bank Banco do Brasil and the Pratigi Environmental  Protection Area Rural Producers’ Cooperative (COOPRAP) established a commercial partnership that will facilitate the sale of the handicrafts produced from piassaba fiber.

Through the Sustainability Store, the financial institution is promoting the sale of over 3,000 handicraft items on its website, primarily those materials for the office and kitchen. It is estimated that the articles will be available for purchase still during the month of March.

The Sustainability Store, an initiative of Banco do Brasil, was created in order to sell the products created by the communities assisted under the Sustainable Regional Development (DRS ) program. This strategy supports economically feasible, socially just and environmentally correct production activities, observing and respecting cultural diversity. “We will also be benefitted even more by the job opportunities and added value given to our products,” said cooperative member Leonaldo dos Santos, a resident of the community of São Francisco, located in the municipality of Nilo Peçanha in Bahia.

The partnership between Banco do Brasil and the cooperatives associated with the Bahia Southern Lowlands Environmental Protection Area Mosaic Integrated and Sustainable Development Program (PDIS), supported by the Odebrecht Foundation and of which COOPRAP is part, began in 2009. When the agreement became official, the members came to have regular access to rural credit via the National Family Farming Strengthening Program (PRONAF). In two years, the cooperatives raised over R$ 8 million, benefitting 399 producers.