Epagri researchers identify areas for açaí production in SC

Epagri/Ciram researchers published article in the magazine Scientific Reports identifying potential areas in Santa Catarina for açaí production through Agroforestry Systems (SAFs). Açaí is a product of the fruit of the juçara palm tree (Euterpe edulis), a species threatened with extinction due to the uncontrolled extraction of palm hearts and the destruction of their forest habitat.  

As it is a species with peculiar ecological and agronomic characteristics, the juçara palm has great productive potential, when combined with other tree and shrub species in SAFs, such as banana and coffee, for example. “But for there to be productivity at a commercial level, specific environmental conditions are necessary”, explains Luiz Fernando Vianna, researcher at Epagri/Ciram, who wrote the article alongside researchers Fábio Martinho Zambonim and Cristina Pandolfo. 

SAFs are defined as forms of use and management of natural resources, in which woody species (trees, shrubs, bamboo and palm trees) are used in association with agricultural crops and/or animal production, simultaneously or sequentially, to obtain benefits of the resulting ecological and economic interactions.

In the article, the authors present a model for selecting potential areas for the natural occurrence of the juçara palm in Santa Catarina, using information collected by the Santa Catarina Forest Floristic Inventory (IFFSC) on the geographic distribution of the juçara palm and climatic data, from vegetation and physiographic. This model made it possible to map the areas where the ideal environmental conditions can be found to implement SAFs to produce açaí.

Surprise in the West

Vianna reveals that one of the most interesting results of this research was the identification of a region with environmental potential in the Far West of the state. The researcher says that this region has a history of forestry exploitation that made the Seasonal Deciduous Forest one of the forest formations in Santa Catarina with the highest degree of degradation and fragmentation. “Both the former botanists who inventoried this region in 1949 and 1952, as well as those who worked on the current inventory (IFFSC), did not find the juçara palm tree in any of the surveys carried out. But they always suspected the possibility of its presence in the Uruguay River Valley”, reports the researcher.

 While the Epagri researchers were still analyzing the model results and discussing the possibility of the presence of the juçara palm in that region, depending on the environmental characteristics, colleagues from the University of Chapecó published an article confirming this hypothesis. This work was the first record of the natural occurrence of E. edulis in the Uruguay River Valley.

“The confirmation of the natural presence of E. edulis in Western Santa Catarina reinforces the importance of its use as a key species in forest recovery and food production”, concludes Vianna.