Agriculture Reference
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practices, shelf life (fruit must be processed within 48 h after harvesting if
properly handled), processing practices and storage, all of which affect food
quality and safety (Rogez, 2000). As demand started to pick up in the mid-
1990s, these problems became limiting very quickly. The Federal University of
Pará and the Embrapa Amazônia Oriental both expanded their work on açaí to
address these quality issues. Local businesses have adopted the new
technologies and best practices and are investing to meet both national and
international demands for quality. Embrapa Amazônia Oriental is actively
prospecting for açaí that fruits at various times during the year, in an attempt to
make açaí available year-round. Initial results are promising and improved seed
will start returning to the production areas within the next couple of years (J.T.
Farias Neto, Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, 2006, personal communication).
Açaí wine is certainly the major success story in Amazonia today. What can
be learned from this success? Chance aside, in our opinion the principal element
was entrepreneurial involvement. Açaí wine has existed for millennia in the
estuary, but never attracted interest outside Amazonia, although Amazonian
researchers have touted its charms for decades. The entrepreneurial motor could
only accelerate, however, because there was sufficient product available near
Belém, a primitive agro-industry was already processing the wine and the
logistics were in place to move it from Belém to south-eastern Brazil and the
world. The third, and perhaps decisive, factor was the agility of the R&D
institutions in Belém. As soon as demand met local limitations, these institutions
moved to solve the quality problems that were causing uneasiness among the
budding entrepreneurs and new consumers. Although work and investments are
ongoing, the directions are correct and solutions are coming online as soon as
they are available.
This example of the synergy between pull and push vectors offers a lesson
for R&D institutions interested in the development of underutilized fruits. These
institutions must be prepared to work with entrepreneurs to make use of the
information that has been accumulating for decades, but which is often stored
on library shelves. The best information and product are essential, but it is only
an entrepreneur who can transform potential into profit in the highly
competitive world fruit market.
While this success certainly stimulates native fruit researchers, it is pertinent
to ask who benefits. In the case of açaí, traditional producers are benefiting at
present, but once plantations on non-flooding plateaus come into production
the traditional producers may lose market share and eventually be pushed out
altogether. This projection is similar to Homma's (1993) analysis of non-timber
forest products and simply reflects the logic of a capitalist economic system.
Numerous Amazonian fruits have already shown that this logic is inexorable;
guaraná is now produced principally in Bahia; heart-of-palm from the
Amazonian peach palm is now produced principally in São Paulo; cocoa is
now produced principally in Bahia, Africa and Asia.
None the less, continued development of Amazonian fruit crops does
contribute to food security in the region. If a fruit crop is successful and leaves
the region, it will still be produced locally for consumption and local markets.
Hence, it will continue to contribute to local diets and nutrition.
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