The Jequitinhonha Valley region of Minas Gerais, where the municipality of Turmalina is located, is one of the poorest in the country, with one of the lowest human development indices. Its population is made up mainly of traditional local communities which have accumulated knowledge over the years about sustainable use of natural resources from native biodiversity. There is thus a large need for implementation of projects and public policy aimed at sustainable development and generation of income to improve the local quality of life.
The objective is implementation of activities related to the native Cerrado medicinal plant production chain, by means of a local productive arrangement, in which the community manages native Cerrado biome medicinal plants and a community-based organization (APLAMT) is responsible for processing and development of products with more added value, such as phytotherapeuticals and phyto-cosmetics. Among its specific objectives, the following stand out: exchanging experiences with other community pharmacies in the region, as well as with a native Cerrado medicinal plant sustainable management project (BRA/06/22); inauguration of the Turmalina Popular Living Pharmacy; purchase equipment for phyto-cosmetic production. This project is complementary to BRA/04/06, also in the neighborhood of US$10,000, aimed at capacity-building in sustainable management of native Cerrado medicinal plants and good practices in phytotherapeutical preparation, as well as implementation of infra-structure for safe handling of medicinal plants in the Association