Canto do Buriti (Piauí), April 16, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - A school, health post, community center, electricity, and a house, basic food basket, and 18 hectares of land for every farm family. This is the structure set up by the Brasil EcoDiesel company to produce castor beans on a large scale in Piauí, part of the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil, where finding a job is a rare event. Easy to cultivate and resistant to drought, castor beans require little water and elevated terrain, conditions that are present in the most sterile areas of the semi-arid region, in which the worst social indicators prevail.

Designed to accomodate 560 families, the first production center, in the municipality of Canto do Buriti, 500 kilometers from the state capital, Teresina, already has 210 families installed, and since January they have been planting castor beans, beans, and vegetables and receiving a monthly salary of US$ 86 (R$ 250). Payment will continue until the first crop is harvested, which is expected to occur in June, and is conditioned on the family's keeping its children in school. Another 140 families will be settled in April, and the center will be completely occupied by the end of the year.

In the production centers, the men look after the crops, and children attend school daily. At night adults and adolescents over 16 who are behind in their studies are taught to read and write. The women do not work in the fields. Their job in the community is to take care of the home garden and domestic trash, which will be converted into organic fertilizer. According to the center's head of agricultural production, Ulda Peterson, home gardens will contain, besides various vegetables, medicinal and aromatic herbs, which will be produced and commercialized by the community itself. "Watermelons, corn, and melons will also be cultivated," Peterson adds. With the children in school, the parents can devote themselves to agriculture in the certainty that their offspring are being taught what they themselves never had the opportunity to learn, including informatics.

The 18 thousand hectare area that houses the project was ceded by the state government as a free loan, but after 10 years the families will receive deeds to the land.

The domestic and international markets for the oil extracted from castor beans are growing. Besides serving as biodiesel fuel, it is used as a raw material for over 700 applications, including medicines, cosmetics, and as a substitute for petroleum in the manufacture of plastics and lubricants. The oil is also used in the production of optic fibers, bullet-proof glass, and bone prostheses.

For decades Brazil was the world's largest producer and exporter of castor oil. The crop was neglected in the '90's, and the country currently ranks third, behind India and China. The federal government's National Biodiesel program will make it possible to generate employment and income in arid, impoverished zones like Northeast Brazil.

Translator: David Silberstein