Production chains in Amazon’s bio-based economy lack assistance
Production chains in the Brazilian Amazon lack the necessary technical support for the conservation and regeneration of ecosystems, social inclusion, and the fight against poverty, a study by environmental think tank Instituto Escolhas found.
Entitled Assistência técnica para a bioeconomia na Amazônia: dos desafios à solução (“Technical assistance for the bio-based economy in the Amazon: From challenges to solutions”), the report addresses the need for technical assistance and rural extension services founded on traditional knowledge, science, and the innovative use of biological and renewable resources.
The survey covered eight Amazon territories and heard 141 people—among them individual producers and representatives of businesses and extension service providers.
The research was based on primary and secondary data and focused on assistance and extension services offered to producers of açaí, andiroba, cocoa, Brazil nuts, and pirarucu, and identified 131 demands for technical assistance which could boost “circular, regenerative, sustainable, and inclusive economic activity, with both collective and local benefits.”
Top challenges
The number and the availability of experts is among the main issues listed by the assistance and extension service providers. As it stands today, the private sector—nonprofits included—accounts for most of the support directed at the bio-based economy—52 percent of all businesses that participated in the study.
“Most organizations stated they are unable to meet producers’ demands. The logistical complexity of serving these territories makes matters even worse, considering the great distances from urban centers, the use of multiple means of transportation, and difficulties in preserving a minimum level of infrastructure. In the case of public institutions, their teams must be expanded,” the publication reads.
Another vital factor named by 75 percent of the companies is scarce funding. Voluntary organizations and cooperatives reported they struggle with temporary and intermittent contracts stemming from public tender offers.
Short-term grants from philanthropy and private investment were also pointed out as a bottleneck. An irregular supply of resources often undermines service effectiveness, the text says.
The document also notes that the absence of assistance and a solid follow-up have a direct impact on activities such as the management of funds, tax payments, digitization of records, and pay for cooperative members.
As a result, product pricing, trade negotiation, market mapping, public purchases, branding, and business plan development are usually impacted.
A case in point is the chain of Brazil nut. The survey covered two regions in Pará state, home to some 900 extraction producers, including indigenous people and members of riverside and quilombola communities.
One of the main challenges in seed collection is logistics, since husking is performed manually throughout the Amazon Forest. Consequently, a large volume of nuts is needed to cover the high costs of extraction and long-distance travel.
Among the needs reported are technical assistance in the adoption of good collection practices (nut handling and selection, clean equipment) and storage (humidity control), in order to avoid contamination and improve logistics and cost-effectiveness in transportation.
The need for better logistics was also stressed in the arapaima chain, which is managed by riverside groups living close to temporary lakes where the fish reproduce. The activity is regulated by specific legislation to ensure the maintenance and sustainability of the species.
The research shows a demand for the development of adequate logistics for the transport of pirarucu (handling, refrigerated packaging), to ensure product quality and low costs.
There was also a demand for the implementation of physical structures adequate to the sanitary requirements for the slaughter, gutting, bleeding, and cleaning of the fish, the treatment and use of the residues discarded in processing (bones, carcass, skin, scales), as well as the faster preparation of reports for fishing permits.
In the açaí chain, at least 4 thousand people are involved in associations and cooperatives of producers and extraction agents collecting and handling the fruit in the territory mapped.
Among the needs listed are technical assistance for the management of açaí trees and other plant species of economic and ecological interest in order to increase the location’s biodiversity, productivity, and profitability; adequate disposal of açaí seeds; adequate management practices, considering maturation, storage, and transportation; and the consortiated production of açaí with other bioeconomy products, like the andiroba and the murumuru, to generate income during the off-season.
Açaí was the product in Brazilian nontimber forest extraction with the highest production value last year.
Government action
The national policy implemented by the Brazilian government for the field—PNATER—already includes joint efforts between public and private actors through public tender offers.
However, even though decentralization and social action are among its core principles, further efforts to step up the coordination of public and private agents as well as their integration with the territory are still necessary.
