Small and medium forest enterprise in Brazil

This study, part of the Small-Medium Forestry Enterprises for Poverty Reduction and Sustainability project, assesses the opportunities and constraints being faced by the Small and Medium Forest Enterprises (SMFEs) in Brazil. The study illustrates the diversity, vitality and potential of the micro and small enterprise segment in Brazil today, stressing the need to formulate policies to strengthen and assure the availability of consistent and systematic information.

The study has also shown that policies and credit instruments destined to leverage small and medium forest based enterprises are lacking in Brazil, despite the fact that these segments employ the vast majority of workers.

The authors recommend that a new initiative be developed to deal specifically with SMFEs in order to redress the lack of emphasis which these enterprises have received in the past. Other findings include:

• despite their importance to the national economy of Brazil, SMFEs have traditionally been marginalised in policy and decision-making
• though there are a number of specific credit provisions available, many of the SMFEs do not know about these sources of credit
• unionisation is low and safety and heath concerns are alleged to be severe.