Action Aid Projects

Gilmar dos Santos, 28 drives a load of babassu nuts with his donkey in the countryside of Brazil's northeastern sate of Maranhao. The babassu palm, native to this northeastern corner of Brazil, is an important part of the local culture and economy - more than 60 products come from it including oil used for cooking and cosmetics as well as the nutshell which is used as cooking fuel. The Association of Land Reform Settlements of Maranhao State (ASSEMA) is an umbrella NGO of associations operated for and by rural peasants and babassu nut crackers, which British NGO Action Aid has helped support ASSEMA since 1999.(AustralFoto/Douglas Engle)

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Gilmar dos Santos, 28 drives a load of babassu nuts with his donkey in the countryside of Brazil's northeastern sate of Maranhao. The babassu palm, native to this northeastern corner of Brazil, is an important part of the local culture and economy - more than 60 products come from it including oil used for cooking and cosmetics as well as the nutshell which is used as cooking fuel. The Association of Land Reform Settlements of Maranhao State (ASSEMA) is an umbrella NGO of associations operated for and by rural peasants and babassu nut crackers, which British NGO Action Aid has helped support ASSEMA since 1999.(AustralFoto/Douglas Engle)

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