Sílvio Ávila
Hefty
gains
Açaí ismakingstridesintheAmazonregion:the
plantedareasriseyearafteryearinthemain
producingState,Pará,andperspectivesarepromising
Fruit department manager Geral-
do Tavares, of the Pará State Agricul-
ture and Fishery Development Secre-
tariat (Sedap), highlights the efforts in
terms of research works, extension and
support towards açaí production, typi-
cal fruit of the State. According to him,
a new cultivar has been scheduled for
launch in 2017, by Embrapa Eastern
Amazon, the result of 13-year research
works by João Tomé de Farias Neto,
with the perspective of, in association
with irrigation, a year-round crop. Fur-
thermore, he refers toworks carried out
by researcher Hever Roger, from UFP,
that “have it all to revolutionize, in the
medium term, sanitary analyses and
juice quality protocols (pulp)”.
In 2016, the State launched the Sup-
ply Chain Development Program (Pró-
Açaí). To this end, says Tavares, partner-
ships have been startedwith institutions
like Emater-Pará and the ministries of
Agriculture, and National Integration,
besides finance agents focused on the
chance to capture resources for the
achievement of the main objectives: ca-
pacity building courses for technicians
and farmers, for an effective manage-
ment of meadowland and dryland plan-
tations, in addition to the acquisition
of selected seeds for the production of
seedlings. In 2017, 26 municipalities are
supposed to receive training, all of them
located in the açaí producing regions
(Baixo Tocantins andMarajó).
n
n
n
Efforts towards an upward trend
Açaí segment in Pará generates 150
thousand jobs and R$ 400 million
B
razil and the world are getting
more and more acquainted with
the typical fruit of theAmazon re-
gion, where it already takes ad-
vantage of a stable market. The
açaí fruit, harvested from the palm trees nat-
urally present in the landscape or recent-
ly planted, is gaining more momentum in
the Amazon and, in particular, in the State
of Pará, biggest producer, now engaged in
a program focused on expanding the crop.
Used indifferent forms, thepulp ispart of the
traditional dishes of the local populationand
conquersmoreandmoreaficionadosallover
theCountryandabroad.
Besides the extractive production, which
is also on the rise, according to figures sur-
veyed by the Brazilian Institute of Geogra-
phy and Statistics (IBGE), the great leader
Pará presents more and more significant ar-
eas in managed meadowlands and dryland
plantations. In the extractive plan, the insti-
tute ascertained a production of 216 thou-
sand tons in the Country, in 2015, with Pará
on the frontline, with 126 thousand tons (fol-
lowed by the Amazon State, with 65 thou-
sand tons, and Maranhão, with 15 thousand
tons).Basedonamoreaccuratesurveyinthe
State of Pará, production this year amounts
to1.12million tons in this Statealone.
Numbers from the State of Pará, in 2016,
indicate that production soared 6.7%, and
the planted area, 22.65%, in line with what
has been happening year after year. In the
past season, productivity was smaller than
expected, due to climate conditions. “The
first half of the year that preceded the season
endured one of themost prolonged drought
periods in Pará. Unfavorable conditions , like
high temperatures, much above the aver-
age in the State (26º), and, as a result, sun-
drenched fields, besides low air humidity
rates,alongwiththeabsenceofpollinizingin-
sects, asa result of climatechanges”explains
34
GeraldoTavares,oftheParáStateAgricultural
Development Secretariat (Sedap).
Tavares, manager at Sedap’s fruit depart-
ment, observes that the perspectives of
the crop are “rather promising and encour-
aging”. According to him, there is a perma-
nentmarket for the fruit, in theStateof Pará,
where the capital city alone, Belém, con-
sumes upwards of 300 thousand tons of the
fruit a year, whilst the national and interna-
tional markets accounted for upwards of R$
391 million in 2015. He also refers to data
from the Agricultural Dynamic Research
Group and Sustainable Development in the
Amazon (Dadesa), of the Federal University
of Pará (UFP), recalling that the açaí supply
chain generates about 150 thousand jobs,
with an average growth of 7.3%a year.
With regard to the State’s exports (6.2
thousand tons and US$ 22.7 million, in
2015), the representative of the Pará State
government considers that only the United
States and Japan represent about 90% of
the total sales, in terms of volume. He com-
ments that the product has not yet been
promoted on a large scale in international
fairs, nor in potential countries, like China,
which, according to him, attests to the exis-
tenceof hugemarkets still tobeexplored for
the highly appreciated Amazon fruit.
Últimos números do principal Estado produtor, Pará
OS FRUTOSDOAÇAÍ
Açaí fruits
Anos
2015
2016
Área colhida (ha)
135.695
166.424
Produção (t)
1.012.740
1.080.639
Produtividade (kg/ha)
7.463
6.493
Fonte:IBGE(GCEA)2016; Elaboração:EstatísticaNuplan/Sedap–PA.
