Eunice Alexandrino becomes first woman to lead Brazil’s Cotaleite dairy cooperative

Alexandrino, 59, comes from Tauá in Ceará, north-eastern Brazil. Cotaleite, formally named Cooperativa dos Produtores de Leite dos Inhamuns, was established in 2009 in the state’s semi-arid interior. She told Diário do Nordeste that she had gone to a meeting to elect a new president and left it in charge of the organisation. “It was a surprise to me,” she said of her election.

Her connection with the cooperative also involves her family: her late husband was a member. For more than three decades, the couple sold milk produced at home. Their work together was interrupted in 2019, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. “Since then, I have been trying to carry on his legacy. It is something that passes from generation to generation,” Alexandrino said.

She continued working after receiving a breast-cancer diagnosis herself, saying that keeping busy “eases the mind”. Alongside selling milk, cheese and butter, she raises free-range chickens. “I am a rural woman. I sell what I produce,” she said. Alexandrino also expressed the view that women are among the people best suited to looking after family farming.

Public support helped her establish the business. Alexandrino said she had obtained R$30,000 in credit to start the enterprise and highlighted the role of programmes such as the Fundo Estadual de Desenvolvimento da Agricultura Familiar (Fedaf), the state’s family-farming development fund. She is awaiting new calls for applications to expand her range to include cream and honey. She said all her products comply with regulatory requirements.

Expoece, where she exhibited her dairy products, is Ceará’s largest agricultural fair. Its 70th edition runs from October 31st to November 8th in Fortaleza, at the Parque de Exposições Governador César Cals. Alexandrino’s latest appearance at the event followed 14 previous visits as a seller of dairy products.

The fair projected business worth R$30 million for the edition, an increase of 50% from R$20 million in 2025. Exhibitor numbers rose from approximately 180 to more than 360. Organisers expected attendance to exceed 300,000 visitors over the nine days of the event.