Curitiba's good medicine

AT FIRST GLANCE, the fazenda looks like many other small, specialized farms that dot the rolling, fertile landscape of Brazil's southern states. But this agricultural operation in the state of Parana is different. At Fazenda da Solidaridade, the farmhands manning the hoes and rakes aren't seasoned country people working to make a living off the land, but drug addicts and alcoholics who've surrendered themselves to this grueling routine for a chance at turning their lives around. And from the soil they till to the finished products that roll out the farm's gate to markets in nearby Curitiba, every detail of this unique operation has a well thought-out purpose.

The forty-three-acre farm, about eight miles south of Curitiba, cultivates about a dozen medicinal plants, including chamomile, babosa (Aloe vera), and carqueja (Baccharis timera), which are processed into a variety of herbal teas, syrups, poultices, and other products destined for city-nm cooperative health-food stores.

"To cure maladies of the body and soul" is how Verde Saude, or Green Health, the project that oversees the operation, describes its mission. A project of the Municipal Secretariat of Agriculture and Provisions (known by its Portuguese acronym, SMAB), Verde Saude utilizes its Solidarity Farm to produce maximum benefits for the city's residents.

The workers who voluntarily enter the program for a term of up to nine months receive, in exchange for their labor, counseling, medical care, job training, and a dose of healthy country living to get them back on their feet. Some of the products they and a small staff of specialized technicians turn out are distributed free of charge, like the 240,000 packets of herbal tea produced annually. Other more artistic creations, such as tapestries created from hemp and a variety of paper products and decorative notebook covers made from sugar cane and the leafs of palm, banana, and maize plants, are for sale at five. artisan boutiques in the city, some of them located at principal tourist sites.

For over two decades, Curitiba has been recognized throughout the world for its efforts to create a more hospitable urban setting for its citizens. Success in keeping more cars off the road and encouraging residents to take the bus, walk, or ride their bicycles; maintaining an extensive system of parks and green belts; and instituting a range of social, cultural, and educational programs have all dramatically improved the life of the average citizen. Indeed, this bustling urban expanse has become the envy not only of much of the developing world but many industrialized cities in North America, Europe, and Asia.

But Curitiba's success has come at a price: The city's efforts to create a livable urban environment with myriad social programs and opportunities for economic advancement have been well publicized throughout Brazil, and the spreading good news has had a predictable result. In recent years, the region has seen a steady influx of new residents from elsewhere in the country, drawn by the promise of a better life. In just one decade, the 1990s, the city grew from the tenth to the seventh most populous metropolitan area in Brazil, with an estimated head count of 1.6 million in 2000. And Curitiba's social planners realize that with every innovative new program they bring on-line, more of their fellow Brazilians will be on the way.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Organization of American States
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning