Brazil: Babaçu Nut Breakers in the Bico do Papagaio

By Marcelo Silva

The warm waters of the Rio Araguaia join up with the cold waters of the Rio Tocantins in the center of Brazil. The two rivers joining together shape the outlines of a beak, more precisely a parrot's beak, which explains its regional name, Bico de Papagaio. This very region gained international notoriety for the violence of its conflicts around its land in the 1970s and 80s as well as for being the largest scene of land  plundering in the world. While their husbands were engaged in the fight and occupying the land, the women supported their families by practicing a primitive type of activity that still exists today, that is breaking babaçu nuts. These women are known by the name of babaçu nut breakers in the Bico do Papagaio. They lead an exhausting daily life as they are confronted by all sorts of difficulties in the quest to gather just enough money to buy one kilo of rice and one of sugar at the end of the day. According to the text above:

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