A cadeia produtiva do açaí na comunidade São João de Veneza Benjamin Constant - AM

Abstract

Açaí has economic, social and environmental importance in the Amazon. Its production is basically carried out through extractivism, it is an activity that demands a large contingent of labor and skills for handling and harvesting the fruits, being an important source of income for extractive families. Açaí stands out for offering, at first, food in the form of 'wine' used on a large scale by riverside populations and appreciated by the entire Amazonian population. Subsequently, it gained other markets as a food of high nutritional power, which has been standing out in recent years in the national and international market. Amazonas is the second largest producer of açaí, in Brazil, highlighting the municipalities of the middle Solimões as Codajás. In Alto Solimões, the official statistics of the IBGE, perhaps, do not represent the amount produced in the municipalities, such as Benjamin Constant, as this is mostly used for self-supply of families and local consumption. The present study aims to diagnose the açaí production chain in the São João de Veneza Community, municipality of Benjamin ConstantAM. This work consisted in describing the environmental history of the São João de Veneza Community, as well as identifying the açaí production process and describing the açaí production chain. The extraction of açaí-da-mata (Euterpe precatoria Mart) is an activity practiced in the Community for several years. In addition, it was recorded that farmers also cultivate açaí (E. precatoria Mart.), according to the informants as a strategy to increase production and facilitate logistics during the harvest period. However, extractivism is still carried out by farmers in the Community and accounts for most of the production today. From the açaí production chain of the São João de Veneza Community, this work was carried out, and it was found that the Community has the largest production of açaí in the municipality, in the future it may be among the largest in Alto Solimões.