Neem,
the multipurpose tree
The
native plant of India has applications in the cosmetic
industries, druggist and furniture factories, and
is a natural insecticide that contributes for supported
agriculture.
When
doctor Maria do Rosário Guimarães
gained two little trees of Neem, the Brazilian research
about this tree still was incipient. A forest engineer
had informed that the plant would serve of excellent
natural insecticide for its plants, located in a
small farm in Aquiraz, 30 kilometers of Fortaleza,
CE. About two years later, she perceived that the
lettuce, the beetroot, the carrot and other vegetables,
that cultivated were not attacked by plagues. The
research had evolved and today it knows that nim
can be more than a powerful insecticide. He is capable
to modify the metamorphosis, to reduce the fecundity
and to inhibit the feeding of 413 species of insects.
The production of Maria do Rosário grew for
300 trees in Aquiraz, and, together with her partner
Elisabeth de Freitas, it manufactures products from
the Neem, as shampoos and moisturizers. Perceiving
the easy adaptation to the climate and the success
with the clients, they had invested in a plantation
in Jaguaribe, 300 kilometers of Fortaleza, in the
state of Ceará hinterland, of more than 12
thousand trees.
As
in the history of success of the partners, the production
of Neem grows in high speed thanks to its innumerable
ambient and commercial applications. Cosmetics and
products of hygiene, as toothpastes, are made from
the Neem. The pharmaceutical industry uses it in
the production of medicines against lices and escabiose
and syrup against bronchitis. For being an excellent
antiviral, he is being tested in medicines against
the virus of AIDS. India produces 600 types of medicines
with the tree...
TV
Globo documentary in NORDESTE RURAL Program (April,
2002)
