They call themselves “quebradeiras" (women who break the babassu coconut) - Inara calls them courageous women with a vision for a better life. For centuries, the majestic babassu palm trees have provided their precious oil for moisturizing and hydrating the body. The babassu oil and a flour called mesocarpo, also made from babassu, are used in cooking and for popular traditional remedies that aid gastritis and menstrual cramps. The empty shell of the babassu coconut is made into charcoal, so that no part of the fruit goes unused.

The ancient ritual of extracting the oil from the fruit kernels of the 40-foot babassu palm connects the women to the land and engages entire communities. Involving more than 400,000 families in the seasonal harvest of the babassu fruit, this tradition became jeopardized when landowners, wanting to plant pasture grasses for livestock, began denying access to the babassu palm. To preserve this timeless tradition of babassu harvesting, Free Babassu was born. Free Babassu is a movement of more than 300,000 women fighting for free access to Babassu palm trees in the state of Maranhão. Free Babassu works to guarantee the women’s rights to the land in order to harvest the babassu coconut and continue their traditional way of life. Since 1999, the women have been able to enact municipal laws that permit free access and prohibit the destruction of the babassu palm. There are four municipals that have adopted the “Free Babassu” law and five more that are currently in the process.

During this effort to preserve the babassu palm, cooperatives began to form. Today, there are two main cooperatives that participate in the harvest and production of babassu. AMTR, The Women’s Association of Rural Workers of Lago do Junco/Lago dos Rodrigues, and COOPALJ, The Cooperative of Small Producing Farmers and “Agro-extractors” in Lago do Junco.

The mission of AMTR is to “integrate and bring together its members in search of a better way of life.” Empowered by their success in gaining access to the babassu palm, many women have become health and education advocates in their communities. Their challenge, while protecting their beloved babassu palm tree, is to raise incomes, build schools and provide much needed health-related services, such as the construction of rudimentary bathrooms, the creation of medicinal gardens, and fighting to build medical facilities in the communities.

In the early to mid-nineties, twenty-three women of AMTR began to experiment with the production of soap made with babassu oil. The women received help from UNICEF and MISEREOR (a German agency) and built a soap factory called “babaçu livre”(Free Babassu) in the rural community of Ludivico. Women from the neighboring communities of São Manoel, Centrinho do Acrísio, and Ludivico began producing soap with a goal to yield 15,000 bars each month. Wild Earth recognizes and honors the efforts of these women and has entered into an exchange where it is currently the only U.S. Company that buys the finished handcrafted soap. Due to this arrangement, the women who craft the soap earn approximately twice the Brazilian national average wage for their work.

COPPALJ, a cooperative of small producers and agricultural extractors, was founded in April of 1991. COPPALJ is the result of the organization of these agricultural families to collectively produce and create a viable market for babassu. All of the members participate in the collection and harvest of babassu. The benefits that the cooperatives provide for its members is directly linked to the price of the babassu, which is far better than the previous commodity price since the cooperative has been able to eliminate the intermediary or middle buyer. Members of the cooperative also benefit from provision of basic foodstuffs available in small markets run by the cooperative in each community (nine in all). Finally, the cooperative members benefit from the distribution of the remaining cooperative funds at the end of each year.

The manufacturing of these products also helps with the preservation of the 10 million hectares of babassu palm trees in secondary forests throughout the state of Maranhão. The preservation of the land is the result of the work of ASSEMA, a non-governmental organization of rural workers (both men and women) whose mission is the building of sustainable development in rural communities through family farming. ASSEMA hopes to improve local income through the preservation and use of natural resources. Today, the ancient practice of women who break the babassu coconut creates a viable economic resource that has become the key to a global exchange supporting this vision.

Wild Earth, founded by Anne Dolbeau, views this exchange as an extension of the ancient tradition of women working with women, supporting and empowering each other. Now the fusion of Inara and these indigenous women's cooperatives create the opportunity for modern ritual in working as a group of empowered women connecting with women of other cultures. Together, this collective energy has created a gift of the amazing Inara babassu line of organic body care products while providing a better life for all.

“Oh! Women, I am calling you!”
(Women's song while extracting fruit from the babassu nut)

Oh! Women, I am calling you, this fight is yours
Get out of the kitchen and let’s go to the streets
This fight is ours,
Don’t get discouraged.
Our palm trees are all on the ground

Let’s get together and fight
For the tree that feeds our children
You who break coconuts, care for your children, and wash clothes.
This is not your destiny.

Later you go to the fields, what a life.
You will break coconuts and break coconuts
The breaking of the coconut was what raised me.
My parents said, and my grandparents, too.
Now I am seeing that it is ending.
The landowner is the one who is devouring it.