The Tree Saving Project - Guacimal Goes Cashew

The problem
Lack of employment sources and poorly paid jobs are fundamental problems in Costa Rica's economically depressed rural regions. Residents of these areas are taking drastic illegal measures to provide for their families by cutting down the last remaining trees on their land, some of which are centuries old. The sale of the timber, however, only improves the situation for a short time; the fundamental problems remain, while the last of the old trees are gone forever. The trees form the basis for Costa Rica's unique biodiversity and provide huge irreplaceable benefits that support all life. Newly planted trees take decades to achieve what one of these giants currently achieves in terms to offset our carbon footprint. However, silently this practice continues.

Our solution
We focus on providing people with alternative, stable and above all, sustainable sources of income that do not harm nature and get people away from tree cutting. Our own experience has shown that there is little point in simply prohibiting people to cut trees; feasible alternatives must be provided.
One of these alternatives is the utilization of the cashew apples growing here, which prior to our cashew-processing project, used to rot on the ground. The cashew tree has many advantages over other crops. It does not need artificial irrigation or chemicals, and it bears fruit after only 3 years. The processing of the fruit and the sale of the products creates jobs, the sale of the cashew apple itself creates a direct source of income for local residents, and we have seen that it encourages people to plant more cashew trees. Partly as a result of our previous cashew processing project, there already are hundreds of cashew trees growing in people’s properties, ready for harvest during the end of March and April.

Goals
4 years ago, the Sustainability Demonstration Center (SDC) in Guacimal developed a project for processing cashew apple, not the seed, into a burger. The flesh of the cashew apple has a meat-like consistency; therefore, it is ideally suited as a vegetarian or vegan meat substitute. Cashew juice is a by-product, which could also be sold. The burgers were then sold very successfully in two places in Guacimal: 1) The "Cosas Buenas" Market founded by the SDC, which sold local organically grown products and included a restaurant, and 2) The "Farmers Market", which still takes place every Saturday and is also an initiative of the SDC together with the villagers to create alternative, sustainable sources of income particularly for women.

The project was very successful and enabled many people in the region to earn an income by selling the cashew apples, and it also created jobs processing the apples. The local people benefited directly from their own harvests. This encouraged many people to plant new cashew trees.

Hurricane Nate brutally stopped the project in October 2017. The "Cosas Buenas" market was completely destroyed by the floods associated with the storm, and with it all the processing facilities for the cashew project.

The aim now is to revive the cashew project! Recently we have observed more and more the cutting of old trees and would like to take immediate action. We would like to return to the production of the burgers to be sold at the Farmers Market. This project is one of many which will follow in order to shift the focus away from old trees as income sources, and help people view them as our legacy and sources of life and joy.

Target group
The target group are the inhabitants of Guacimal and the surrounding area. The project aims to create jobs and improve the financial situation of local families by enabling them to sell the cashew fruit growing on their own land.

The forests of Central and South America are often referred to as the green lung of the earth. Climate protection concerns all of us, and it starts with the small: with a tree, with a small rural community like Guacimal, with a place like the Sustainability Demonstration Center, which wants to actively do something against the loss of these gentle, marvelous giants. You can help us turn our vision into action!

If the financing is successful, the support will enable to regain the basics for the cashew burger production. This includes:

• the purchase of large freezers to preserve the cashew products
• the purchase of the most basic stainless steel equipment required by the Ministry of Health for the processing of the cashew apples
• seed capital to pay some locals to process the fruit this first season
• seed capital for the purchase of the fruit from the inhabitants of Guacimal

When the second funding target is reached, the donations will allow to pay the legal and registration fees to obtain a patent for the burger recipe. These are necessary to obtain the legal permit to sell to restaurants and official shops outside the local Farmers Market, which will give a great boost to the selling capacity and allow the project to grow.