Use of Medicinal Plants of Brazilian Caatinga in a Perspective of Solidarity Economy

The culture of using medicinal plants is a practice that has been present since ancient times and is passed on from generation to generation by indigenous peoples, traditional populations that are made up of farmers, researchers and so on [1]. According to the World Health Organization medicinal plant is any and all plant which possesses, in one or more organs, substances which may be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors of semi-synthetic drugs, which when used for the treatment of both human as of animals, through their pharmacological action are capable of alleviating, curing or preventing physical or mental illnesses [2].

According to Heinrich et al. [3], a plant with a relatively high index can suggest areal effectiveness in the treatment of the disease, because in ethnobotanical studies this index will facilitate the selection of species for pharmacological tests that may prove an efficacy of its active principles. The study of medicinal plants and their relationship with the people over the years is studied by ethnobotany [4]. The term ethnobotany was formally designated in 1895 as the study of plants used by primitive and aboriginal peoples and, by virtue of this initial definition, has long been understood on the basis of this concept. Brazil has the greatest biological diversity on the planet, becoming a target of greed for scientific communities around the world. The Brazilian cerrado contains more than 6000 vascular plants, many of them used as food and for therapeutic purposes. In the area of medicine, tropical plants offer properties for the production of analgesics, tranquilizers, diuretics, laxatives and antibiotics among others. The global commercialization of secondary products totals an average of 200 million dollars a year [5, 6].

The Caatinga biome occupies an exclusively Brazilian area of 850 thousand km², representing 10% of the Brazilian territory and encompassing the nine states of the Northeast, plus the north of Minas Gerais. Rich in biodiversity, the Caatinga biome houses 591 bird species, 177 reptiles, 79 amphibian species, 241 fish species, 221 bees and 178 mammal species. The flora of the Caatinga has peculiar characteristics that differentiate it from the variety of exuberant colors of the humid tropical forests, the physiognomies visualized by many transcends the idea of biome of very low diversity starting from the assumption of the aspects as its vegetation presents / displays aspects of an ugly one and dry. The vegetation that characterizes the Caatinga is composed mainly by plants like umbuzeiro (Spondia tuberosa), the belly (Chorizia ventricosa), the kidney beans (Capparis yco), the barauna (Schnopsis brasiliensis), the favelone (Cnidosculus phyllacanthus), the iron-dick (Caesalpinia ferrea), juazeiro (Ziziphus joazeiro), the camaratuba (Cratylia mollis), catingueira (Caesalpinia pyramidalis), canafistula (Peltophorum dubium), amburan (Commiphora leptophloeos) and the pinhão-bravo (Jatropha molíssima) and the cactaceae that occur most frequently in the region are the palms Opuntias, mandacaru (Cereus jamacaru), xique-xique (Pilocereus gounellei), crown of monks (Melocactus Zehntneri) [7-10].

In relation to the knowledge how medicinal plants are used for medicinal purposes are the most diverse in the Caatinga areas. The knowledge practiced in the daily life in rural communities about medicinal plants are intrinsically related to the natural resources available in the environment in which they are inserted as well as in the reproduction of customs and practices that are passed on over the years from generation to generation. According to Albuquerque [11], rural communities are responsible for maintaining a large number of native and exotic plants to meet the most varied needs, especially food and medical needs, so empirical knowledge of these populations can provide important information for research and thus, many scientific discoveries can and will happen.

According to Albuquerque [11], medicinal plants are plant species that have several types of active principles, which can actin the organs of humans and animals, combating various diseases, eliminating causative agents such as worms, fungi and bacteria. Strong preventive action against many other health problems. In a number of forums, claims and scientific research have identified the need for a directive that will provide guidelines to be followed by all in order to promote the conscious and sustainable use of plants used to treat pathologies [12].

A large part of the world'spopulation relies on traditional approaches to day-to-day health care, and about 80% of the population, especially in developing countries, relies on medicinal plant derivatives for their healthcare are worked by groups of people who share and exercise the principles and actions of the Solidarity Economy [13].

A characteristic aspect of this type of situation is the combination between the valorization of the local space and the search for answers to specific problems, inserting the solidarity in the collective elaboration of the economic activities involved in the planting. This concern with the local community can lead to two other key characteristics of experience: a combination of economic activities with other social, educational, and political activities; the concern with the appreciation of the sense of work and the commitment to the community. The opening of Solidarity Economy enterprises or ventures is seen as an important basis of competitiveness and as a way of creating new jobs.

The Solidarity Economy is an important tool that goes against the consequences caused by social exclusion for presenting as an alternative income generation to an audience that on several occasions feel the margins in society for being part of a group of people who experience a series of needs arising from social inequalities [14]. The Solidarity Economy is practiced by millions of workers and workers of all extracts, including the most excluded and vulnerable population, organized collectively managing their own work, fighting for their emancipation in thousands of economic solidary enterprises and thus guaranteeing the reproduction of popular life. They are initiatives of collective productive projects, popular cooperatives, collecting and recycling cooperatives of recyclable materials, production, commercialization and consumption networks, financial institutions focused on joint ventures, self-managed companies, family farming cooperatives and Agroecology, service cooperatives, among others, that stimulate local economies, guarantee decent work and income to the families involved, and promote environmental preservation.

Most communities of family farmers have low levels of education, and therefore attend Youth and Adult Education. The new identity with which the Education of Young and Adults presents itself is very heterogeneous, fragmented and complex; Their brand seems to be in the diffusion that people should seek, in education, skills and abilities that endow them with the possibility of employability. This conception is guided by the individualistic horizon and submission, and is expressed in the idea that being educated is to be employable [5]. Farmers attending youth and adult education have various perspectives on the future, they believe that this education can be determinant in school formation as well as in socialization thus promoting improvements in the quality of life, and this can be done through practices of Solidary Economy.

Several daily activities can be incorporated into the Solidarity Economy as a source of income for communities of needy family farmers. Practical knowledge of traditional communities about medicinal plants is closely related to the available natural resources and their cultural heritage, being a sociobiocultural and economic reproduction of their ancestors, which has been transmitted to the present generations. With regard to cultural traits, there is evidence that certain cultures tend to stimulate values that contribute to a greater propensity to entrepreneurship, in that they value initiative and autonomy. This study aims to provide information to the residents of the city of Picuí, Paraiba, on the benefits of the use of medicinal plants as well as their implications for human health, as well as their viability as a presupposition for the practice of the Solidarity Economy. Therefore, it intends to contribute knowledge that leads to the proper use of plants and, consequently, to the wellbeing of individuals. The poorest communities, and even those with little study, are responsible for maintaining knowledge of a large range of native and exotic plants, to meet the most varied needs, especially food and medical needs, thus empirical knowledge of these populations, can provide important information for research and thus, many scientific discoveries. In this way, the general objective of this work is to perform a survey of the ways in which medicinal plants of the Caatinga are used by family farmers of young and adult education and their perspectives for a Solidary Economy.