It is not new that the castanheira-da-Amazônia [Brazil nut tree] has social and economic importance in the context of the biome that names the tree. Traditional families, such as those made up of riverine people, indigenous people and quilombolas, guarantee part of their income from the production and sale of the seed of this species, the Brazil nut. The food generated more than R$170 million in the Amazon Region in 2022 – the year of the last update made by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) –, the result of the harvest of 38,169 tons produced and it has potential for more.
In 2021, the product generated R$137 million for the biome. Following the needs and growth trend seen in Brazil nut production, some projects and institutions in the Amazon are focusing on improving the conditions for tree growth, planting and harvesting, adding added value to the food and promoting the generation of employment and income in the region. One of them is Nanorad’s, an experience coordinated by the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (Inpa) [National Institute for Amazonian Research], which uses nanobiotechnology to enhance plant development.
The initiative is present in all nine states of the Legal Amazon – Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins and Maranhão – and has more than 100 researchers. Brazil nut trees are the main target of the project. A nanoparticle, called arbolin, is inserted into the leaves of the trees or into the soil, with the aim of improving the synergy of the roots with the bacteria present, causing better photosynthesis, carbon assimilation and the growth of these species. The results already show an increase in the height, diameter and number of leaves of the plants.
Arboline
The trees will be measured in 2025, but the study with arbolina indicates a 30% increase in the size of trees that used the substance. The starting point for beginning research with nut trees was the reality of deforestation in the Amazon. José Francisco Gonçalves, researcher at INPA and coordinator of Nanorad’s, explains that these degraded areas of the biome are the focus of the work, since there is a lot of perspective for the future and few effective solutions to overcome the problem. “Twenty percent of deforested area is sufficient as a vision of the future, as an adequate political solution,” he says.
The project has been developed for two years. Gonçalves highlights that there are around 16 thousand species existing in the Amazon forest and, in comparison with other regions, if at least 10% of this total were used, the economy would begin to show reaction effects. “It means we have the problem and we have how to turn it into a solution and decision makers have to choose sides. The problem is: do I continue to deforest? And the solution is: effective action in areas that have already been deforested. We made a diagnosis and we say that there are solutions and they are based on forestry plantations”, he states.
“We need to work towards planting species that add value to the market. There is a lack of research, a lack of investment, but even using only this species that we have, it is possible to plant forests with high performance. Today, the project has 11 institutions throughout the Brazilian Amazon. In Pará, it is the Unifesspa. In each of the areas, there is a responsible researcher and a scholarship student who monitors the experiment in the field. We have five high school students selected from public schools”, lists the researcher.
Species provides from nut to wood
There are several possibilities for increasing the economy through chestnut trees. In addition to the production of Brazil nuts, wooden nuts also have space in the market and accelerating the growth of the species is a way to guarantee demand. Nanorad’s coordinator, José Francisco Gonçalves, explains that the tree takes eight years, under current conditions, to mature – this time is being reduced through nanobiotechnology. “The chestnut tree is a kind of multiproduct, so it has the advantage of producing nuts, wood, the almond can extract the oil, it can be consumed fresh…”
Choice
In addition to the socioeconomic context present in the cultivation of nut trees in the Amazon, the project took into account the physiological differences of the tree to carry out the study. “The choice of the nut tree was a selection of a species that presents what we call physiological plasticity. It grows in understory environments, it germinates when the forest opens its canopy, so the seed that is in the seed bank there falls to the ground, germinates and grows. The nut tree grows in that low light condition, but it also grows in open, deforested environments.”
Brazil nuts have competitive advantages
Unlike other items cultivated in the Amazon, such as açaí, Brazil nuts have the advantage of not being perishable, that is, they do not spoil easily. Lúcia Wadt, a researcher at the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) [Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation] in Rondônia, also considers that harvesting the product involves the entire family, guaranteeing broad income. “However, açaí has much greater added value, it generates more income, but it is not as universal in terms of collecting. Brazil nut is a product that replaces rubber and since the beginning you can take it and sell it without any problems of lack of technology.”
“The market is growing, it is not saturated and it is very traditional. The main income goes to families living in the Amazon, in extractive reserves, generating most of their profits. It's knowledge that passes from father to son, almost everyone knows how to collect and open nuts. The sludge is traditional and is being lost because young people don't know how to cut rubber trees. But, not the nut. Young people and teenagers participate [in the harvests], women participate and that is why it is so important”, adds the Embrapa researcher.
Medicinal purposes
The research carried out by Embrapa follows the path of promoting quality in the production and harvesting of Brazil nuts and finding better solutions for the bioeconomy of the product in the Amazon. Among the studies, medicinal potentials were found in the nuts. “Several extractive communities use it, collect the nutshell and make tea for stomach problems, for example. They use it for several things. Research for medicinal purposes has found very interesting results [in other trees], but in the nut tree it was the most significant,” says Lúcia.
Embrapa works to improve Brazil nut economy
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Embrapa has been researching the best ways to make the Brazil nut production chain larger. Lúcia highlights that, among the projects, the institution works on quality, added value, extractive solutions and genetics. “We have been working to improve productivity, reduce labor effort, planting, working on the selection and development of productive materials and techniques for producing seedlings, pruning, grafting, so that we can recommend a cultivation system with techniques that really bring advantages to production”, she states.
Although the value of the production of Brazil nuts, the seed of the nut tree, increased between 2021 and 2022, the food comes from a historical series of stability: in 2018, R$ 130 million were raised and, in 2019, R$ $135 million. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this amount was R$98 million. The data are from IBGE. João Cláudio Arroyo, university professor and Ph.D in urban development and environment, believes that the gains could be much greater. This is because the biome produces without added value, that is, it bases exports on raw, untreated products.
“There is a certain devaluation of nuts in relation to the real [Brazilian currency] and due to the logic of exporting without any processing. We transform and sell the nut as a commodity, a common product for the international market; It does not stand out for its quality and peculiarity, it only gains market share through price, it has to depreciate costs to lower the price and gain market share. We export part of it to Switzerland, for example, and we buy the nuts used in chocolate, although we could make it here”, explains the professor.
Contrast
This reality is contrasting, since Brazil is the second largest producer of Brazil nuts, followed by Bolivia and Peru. “We have a lot of resources, but wealth is generated abroad. We keep around 5% of the resources of the wealth that is generated with what we have. Brazil's geoeconomic positioning is disadvantageous: we have resources, we are the 9th largest productive power in the world, we have the 9th largest Gross Domestic Product [GDP], we produce a lot but without added value. Those who are making economic decisions are those who are interested in Brazil remaining poor”, says Arroyo.
Potential
A series of products could be developed from Brazil nuts, such as oil to replace olive oil and sweets, for example. However, extractivism remains the main activity. “The nut began as a “droga do sertão” [spices with high resale value], right after the arrival of the Portuguese colonizers. Later, investments here returned with the arrival of the English and French, but precious stones received more attention. The nut was not highlighted and continues to be an extractive product, it does not have a technique, an industry. We harvest and throw it into the world, they give it back as products”, explains the professor.
Brazil nut production in the Amazon
- Acre
R$ 58 million
9,145 tons produced
- Amapá
R$ 1.1 million
400 tons produced
- Amazon
R$ 46 million
14,303 tons produced
- Mato Grosso
R$ 16 million
2,205 tons produced
- Pará
R$31 million
8,807 tons produced
- Rondônia
R$5.9 million
1,395 tons produced
- Roraima
R$ 10 million
1,915 tons produced
- Tocantins
No data
- Maranhão
No data
Source: IBGE/2022
