Interview: Eduardo Brondizio on the acai berry ”Through the hands of local producers, acai fruit has become the largest agroforestry economy of the Amazon, leading regions such as the Amazon estuary-delta to a productive forest transition today….. The value-aggregation of acai should happen in the region and through the hands of the Amazonian population!” Q: You have described acai development as a trajectory of “shifting cycles and opportunities” – and researched the evolution from staple food to fashion food, as you wrote in your 2004 article. Can you briefly summarize what you mean by this? A: The acai economy has expanded quickly and widely since the 1990s. As it moved from a regional to a global food, transformed materially and symbolically, many economic opportunities emerged as part of this process. Increasingly, the largest share of the acai economy moved from production and local processing at the local level to industrial transformation across different sectors (e.g. different food industries, health and diet, cosmetics, etc). While still a very important and major part of the regional economy, the largest share of the acai economy has moved away from its region of production to where it is transformed elsewhere in Brazil and the world. The unfortunate reality of the region is that, in spite of the value and the demand for the fruit, most small scale acai producers depend on government aid to make it through the year. Very little value aggregation of acai products occurs in its region of production. Q: The Acai berry is sometimes referred to as the “quintessential NWFP” in that it is considered a success story for NWFP development. To what degree would you rate acai a success story? A: It is a success on many fronts. It emerged from the hands of local producers responding to, initially, local urban markets and increasingly to national and international demands. It was the knowledge and production techniques of local and mostly small-scale producers that led the intensification of acai production through forest management and agroforestry techniques. For over 20 years, I have been arguing that the acai economy is not an extractive economy, but an intensive production economy. Local producers use a variety of techniques to create intensive acai production stands, or acaizais. These techniques include management of floodplain forests through selective thinning, pruning, and transplanting of seedlings as well as inter-cropping systems that start with a mix of annuals and perennials leading to the formation of intensive agroforestry stands. While based on agricultural and ecological knowledge and manual labour, these areas are highly productive, but yet, in part because of their forest appearance, they are often not considered as intensive production areas. The association of extractivism (and thus extractivists) with the acai production system results from the social history of the region and its association with previous extractive phases, such as the rubber economy. The social category of extractivists, and the potential prejudices it carries, has been transposed to small-scale acai producers without consideration to their actual and active contribution to the development of an intensive agroforestry economy. Through the hands of local producers, acai fruit has become the largest agroforestry [and potentially agricultural] economy of the Amazon, leading regions such as the Amazon estuary-delta to a productive forest transition during recent decades. For these and other reasons, acai producers are ‘forest farmers’, not extractivists. Q: In the public eye, acai is often referred to as a “superfruit” or miracle berry. To what extent do you agree with these claims? A: The acai palm is an amazing plant and the acai fruit an equally amazing food, providing for calories and energy for regional populations and multiple nutritional properties. Using many other terms, local consumers have always recognized acai as a blessing, a gift from God, an essential part of life. Along the margins of the rivers of the Amazon, people who produce and consume acai do consider it a miracle fruit. The promotional idea of superfood, however, goes back many decades and has been applied to many products either as a basis for promoting development programs linked to particular crops, and as a marketing strategy to engage consumers with new products. As in the case of many other foods, there is a side of reality and a side of marketing abuse to these claims. Q: What have been some of the challenges in acai development? For example, in your experience, are the benefits really trickling down to communities? A: Acai fruit generates a giant economy among local producers and a wide network of commercialization and processing for regional consumers. It is likely the most important forest-based economy of the Amazon and most inclusive in terms of the range of producers involved. However, as said above, there has been minimum or no value aggregation taking place in the region, and when existing it tends to concentrate on the capital cities of the region. The largest share of the acai economy is increasingly tapped outside of the Amazon. So, while important to the regional population, it has not triggered what I would call a regional transformative economy, which could provide more opportunities to local populations and municipalities. Q: How sustainable is acai extraction in the Amazon? Do you think harvesting can continue at current rates? To your knowledge, are there reliable figures on resource base? A: The vast majority of acai production is NOT an extractive production. As said above, the social category of extraction (and extractivist) has historical roots in the region’s colonial extractive economy. It is often used to reinforce the position of producers as passive and backward; this is part of the problem (among many) that limits the trickle down of the economy locally. From a production perspective, acai fruit can be sustainable, although homogenization and mono-cropping are expanding with still unknown environmental impacts. For instance, in some areas, producers are realizing that the homogenization of acai stands is affecting the presence of pollinators. Still, in most of the Amazon delta-estuary region, the most important producing area of acai fruit, acai agroforestry stands tend to be inter-mixed with forests, in what Amazonian-born scientist Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez at Columbia University calls multifunctional landscapes, which produce a variety of goods and ecosystem services to local populations and beyond. Q: How would you like to see acai development continue? The category of NWFPs is vast, and what works in one context or for one species/NWFP might not necessarily work for another, but do you have any general recommendations or lessons that could possibly be applied to other NWFPs? A: I would still like to see a broader recognition of the contribution of small-scale producers and programs that support their participation in the economy. I would like to see these producers recognized as forest farmers, not as extractivists. I would like to see more investments in opportunities for transforming acai fruit (processing, storage, industrialization) in local municipalities of the Amazon, so it aggregates value, provides more jobs, and brings more resources to be invested in local development and social services to the regional population. Municipalities of the Amazon are mostly insolvent, struggling to deal with increasing demands for services, urban infrastructure, and better support for rural populations. The value-aggregation of acai should happen in the region and through the hands of the Amazonian population!
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