Area planted with upland açaí palm trees generated by the research grows 675% in Brazil

The planted area of ​​açaí cultivars (Euterpe oleracea) for dry land developed by agricultural research has increased by 675% in the last 12 years, indicates a study conducted by Embrapa. With seeds of superior genetic quality and appropriate management practices, açaí cultivation outside floodplain areas is expanding in the Amazon and other regions of Brazil and increasing the supply of fruits to the market. Positive effects on income generation on agricultural properties, soil quality and biodiversity conservation are also recorded.

Monitoring the adoption of technologies analyzed the cultivars BRS Pará and BRS Pai d'Égua, launched, respectively, in 2005 and 2019. These cultivars are unique in the world for planting açaí palm on dry land, since the palm tree is native to floodplain areas. The work shows that in 2010, in Brazil, mainly in the state of Pará, there were 6.886 hectares of açaí trees planted with the BRS Pará cultivar. In 2022, with the two cultivars available on the market, the area jumped to 53.374 hectares (39.800 hectares of BRS Pará and 13.574 hectares of BRS Pai d'Égua).

Pará, Amazonas, Maranhão, Rondônia, Bahia, Amapá and Roraima are the states that stood out most in adopting technologies, according to monitoring. “The adoption estimate is calculated based on the sale of seeds and seedlings by the company licensed by Embrapa”, explains economist Aldecy Moraes, analyst at Embrapa Amazônia Oriental. The bill considers plantings of 400 plants per hectare at a spacing of 5 by 5 meters, in accordance with research recommendations. The work also considers a percentage of losses (50% for 1 kilogram of seeds and 20% to 30% for seedlings for 1 hectare planted) and the results are validated with producers in the region.

Monitoring the adoption of technologies, according to analyst Renato Castro, from the Technology Transfer area at Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, in addition to verifying the degree of success of the solutions developed by the research, “brings a richer perspective, through the various indicators analyzed, of the reasons why the technology is or is not being adopted by the producer. When this data is processed, consolidated and analyzed, it feeds back into the Company’s Research, Development and Innovation system”, he adds. 

The work complements the Technology Impact Assessment, a methodology consolidated by Embrapa that evaluates the economic, social and environmental impacts of the technologies developed by the research. Professionals from four Embrapa Units in the North region (Eastern Amazon, Western Amazon, Amapá and Roraima) participated in the evaluation.  

Financial stability for the producer

Farmer Paulo Renê Alves da Silva (photo on the left), from Marabá, in the Southeast region of Pará, has been growing açaí since 2012 and currently has 15 hectares on the property with the Embrapa BRS Pará and BRS Pai d’Égua cultivars. “Açaí brings financial stability to small farmers because it is a perennial crop, with high consumption and a guaranteed market”, says the farmer. 

Silva's biggest challenge was the lack of knowledge surrounding crop management at the beginning of the activity. With the consolidation of the production system, it has been expanding its area year by year with BRS Pai d’Égua. “It is a good business for small producers, yes, it is a product that people from Pará will always consume”, he believes.

Quality genetic seed is one of the fundamental requirements for good productivity, according to farmer Cid Ornela, from Capitão Poço, in the Northeast region of Pará. With more than 100 hectares of açaí trees cultivated on dry land, he highlights that the genetic improvement work developed by Embrapa has already generated superior quality materials, such as BRS Pai d’Égua. 

The farmer, who has been an agricultural technician for 40 years, has been planting açaí for around 15 years and increases his production annually. Among the main challenges of the activity, Ornela highlights that it is necessary to better understand the nutritional demand of the açaí fruit. “We need to understand more precisely which elements açaí extracts from the soil and in what quantity,” he notes.

For him, the economic viability of the activity over time will only be guaranteed with increased productivity. “Cultivation costs are high, the producer needs to produce 40% of the annual production in the first semester, the off-season period when the price of the fruit increases, and 60% in the second semester, to maintain a viable average price. The market is huge, but it is necessary to invest in management and productivity”, he adds.

The positive effect on income generation on agricultural properties is also one of the results of adopting the BRS Pará technology, according to the Impact Assessment study. “We saw that the adoption of the cultivar provides benefits in relation to safety and stability indicators resulting from increased productivity and also from the great demand for the product and the price charged in the market”, emphasizes Aldecy Moraes.

The evaluation showed that the economic benefit of the research for the regions analyzed was approximately 201 million reais, resulting mainly from the stability of the product price and the increase in the area of ​​adoption with the technological solution.

Genetic improvement for cultivation on dry land

Embrapa Amazônia Oriental has been working on the genetic improvement of the açaí tree since the 1990s to expand the production of this palm tree native to floodplain areas. The research trajectory resulted in the only two cultivars in the world recommended for terra firma. “This is a very relevant research contribution to açaí production in Brazil. In recent years, demand for the fruit has grown at a much faster pace than supply. So, migrating to dry land was one of the solutions found by the research”, explains researcher João Tomé de Farias Neto, from the same research center.

The domestication process of the species involved collecting plants in different regions of Pará, establishing experimental areas, crossings and successive harvest cycles to select the best plants. BRS Pará, launched in 2005, was the first dryland açaí cultivar in Brazil, developed for characteristics such as shorter plant size, early fruit production, greater productivity and pulp yield.

The improvement and advancement of knowledge surrounding this palm tree led research to take another step in the domestication process and in 2019, BRS Pai d’Égua was launched, an irrigated açaí cultivar for dry land. One of the main characteristics is the well-balanced distribution of annual production. With irrigation and adequate management, the cultivar produces 40% in the off-season (from January to June) and 60% in the harvest (from July to December). Furthermore, the cultivar has even smaller fruits than its predecessor with a higher pulp yield, around 30%, in relation to fruits currently used in the agribusiness.

Alternative for degraded areas

Even with the advancement of production on dry land, the largest supply of fruit to the market -- around 90% -- still comes from managed floodplain areas. The environmental risks to this ecosystem caused by increased market demand worry experts in the Amazon. For researcher Alfredo Homma, also from Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, the expansion of this production must take advantage of areas that are already open or degraded. “The floodplain is a fragile ecosystem and the expansion of production must migrate to dry land”, says Homma. 

The BRS Pará impact assessment study showed positive effects on soil quality and biodiversity conservation due to the adoption of the cultivar. According to agronomist Enilson Solano Albuquerque Silva, from the Technology Transfer area at Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, one of the authors of the study, this is due to the incorporation of anthropized areas of dry land into the production system, which results in the reduction of the erosion process with the implementation of perennial cultivation, in the recovery of soil fertility and in the increase of organic matter and wildlife in crops that are often associated with other crops or in agroforestry systems. 

The family area of ​​farmer Márcio Hiramizu, in Tomé-Açu, in the Northeast region of Pará, is proof of how açaí cultivation can be integrated with other crops and activities. Açaí planting began in 1996 with his father, Shigeru Hiramizu, a Japanese immigrant. On site, in addition to isolated cultivation, there is integrated cultivation with other fruit and forest crops, in agroforestry systems. 

On the 55 hectares of açaí trees, he cultivates BRS Pará and has already started renewing the plantation with BRS Pai d’Égua. “The big difference is production in the off-season when the price of the fruit is more attractive to the producer”, he says. Hiramizu further reports that he and his father almost gave up on planting açaí. “Before açaí became famous on the market, we almost cut down all the plants to sell the heart of palm to a buyer from outside the state, but soon the price of the fruit started to rise and we gave up”, recalls the farmer.

Currently, his property is also used as an experimental area for the development of research related to açaí pollination. He maintains vegetation around the plantation and introduced bee boxes in production areas to improve pollination of the palm tree.