Small-Scale Açaí in the Global Market: Adding Value to Ensure Sustained Income for Forest Farmers in the Amazon Estuary

Thanks to rising market demand in Brazil and abroad, fruit of the açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) has become, over the past three decades, a main source of income for rural families in the Amazon estuary. Long a regional food staple, açaí is also an ecologically important species, native to the estuary’s floodplain forest. In the state of Pará, a significant part of the regional economy now revolves around açaí cultivation and its associated industries; this offers powerful motivation to farmers and other stakeholders to leave the floodplain forest standing. Despite the economic opportunities presented by the recent market growth, new challenges have arisen for traditional floodplain forest farmers. These challenges include environmental concerns arising from intensified land use, market competition stemming from expanding cultivation of the fruit, and access to markets that value the higher quality of traditional small-scale production. In order to survive in the changing market, small-scale producers will need to identify ways to differentiate their harvest. Through a comparative look at how two different estuary communities of açaí producers are addressing these challenges, this chapter examines certification as a tool for adding value to traditionally grown açaí. Certification is a relatively unexplored option for river farmers; it may be one of the best tools with which to confront changes in the growing market and, ultimately, to stay in the race. The question of whether or not traditional production can remain viable in the larger market will have far-reaching impacts on land use, forest cover and composition, and the livelihoods and food security of thousands of rural families in the Amazon estuary.