BRAZIL:
Amazon Fruit Gatherers
Face Biofuel Dilemma
By
Mario Osava
IMPERATRIZ, Brazil, (Tierramérica)
- The babaçú, an
abundant native palm
tree in the eastern
Amazon and in the north
and northeast of Brazil,
has great potential for
the production of "biodiesel"
and biomass fuel, but
the women who make their
living from gathering
its fruit fear the loss
of their traditional
source of income.
"Experience leads us to
predict new difficulties
in access to the babaçú
(Orbignya phalerata
martins)," Eunice da
Conceição Costa told
Tierramérica. She is one
of the coordinators of
the Interstate Movement
of Babaçú Coconut
Breakers (Movimento
Inter-estadual de
Quebradeiras de Coco
Babaçú), in Imperatriz,
a municipality in the
southwest of Maranhão
state.
These difficulties have
their roots in the
agrarian process that
Maranhão has undergone
since 1969, when the
Land Act was passed that
drove the formalisation
of property ownership
and the private
appropriation of
extensive areas of
public lands. Fences
multiplied, cutting off
sustainable fruit
gathering activities,
and the forests were
replaced by pastures and
fields.
The Movement is fighting
for a national law --
local laws already exist
in some municipalities
-- that ensures free
access for the babaçú
gatherers and halts
destruction of this
natural resource that is
indispensable for the
local economy.
An estimated 400,000
people, nearly all
women, make their living
from the oil produced by
the babaçú coconut, and
other products from the
babaçú used as food, in
construction and in
making artisanal crafts.
The fever has arrived
here for
agricultural-based
fuels, which are less
polluting than
petroleum-based fuels. "Biodiesel"
demands industrial scale
and mechanised
production, and could
quash the traditional
local practices.
"It is a threat for us;
they want to take the
babaçú away from us,"
says Maria Adelina
Chagas, general
coordinator of the
Movement, which is
organised in the states
of Maranhão, Pará, Piauí
and Tocantins.
It is feasible to
produce fuel from the
babaçú without taking
away the source of
income from the coconut
breakers, but rather
would expand it,
Fernando Carvalho Silva,
coordinator of the
biofuel unit at the
Federal University of
Maranhão, told
Tierramérica.
What is needed is a more
efficient system for
collecting the coconut
and extracting its
seeds, which contain the
oil, he said.
The oil content of the
palm's fruit is just
seven percent, but it is
essential to make use of
all the raw material.
The hard shell of the
coconut has high caloric
content and can be used
as fuel in industry or
for generating
electricity. The flesh
is rich in starch and
can be used to produce
food for humans or
livestock.
Biodiesel's feasibility
here depends, therefore,
on a chain of production
that includes industries
for food, fertiliser,
energy, inputs for
cosmetics and others,
says Silva.
In addition to studying
the possibilities of the
babaçú, the university
team is developing a
pilot fuel plant, using
cheap and simple
technology that is
accessible for rural
communities. It would be
able to produce 250 to
280 litres of biodiesel
in each operation, which
would take two days
because it purifies the
fuel through
decantation, avoiding
the need for costly
centrifuges, explained
the expert.
The objective is to
ensure the initiative's
economic viability,
benefiting the coconut
breakers, who have the
final decision on the
project that would
completely change the
babaçú economy, he said.
The abundance of the
palm is enough to
provide biofuel for
several of Brazil's
states. The native
babaçú forests cover an
estimated 18 million
hectares, mostly in
Maranhão. Its fruit is
Brazil's leading forest
product, after timber,
and in 2005 represented
19.4 percent of all
non-wood extractive
production, according to
the Brazilian Institute
of Geography and
Statistics.
But collecting the fruit
-- a rudimentary
practice -- does not
keep up with the level
needed for fuel
production. In addition
to gathering the coconut
by hand, the women
remove the seeds using a
dangerous technique.
They hold the fruit
between the fingers of
one hand, over the blade
of a hatchet supported
on the ground, and hit
it with a stick held in
the other hand.
"No machine can replace
the coconut breakers,"
because a machine would
not achieve the
longitudinal cut that
preserves the four or
five seeds contained in
each coconut, said the
Movement's Costa,
underscoring the skill
passed on from mother to
daughter, though it has
not prevented accidents
from happening.
Each woman produces an
average of eight kilos
of seeds per day, and
earns about seven reais
(3.8 dollars), Chagas,
the Movement's general
coordinator, told
Tierramérica
It is not a lot of
money, but is much more
than biodiesel would
give them, which is
another obstacle to
convincing the coconut
breakers to join the
biofuel production
effort, she said.
In addition, the
governmental programme
of incentives for
biodiesel in the poor
regions of Brazil's
north and northeast does
not include babaçú,
according to Chagas.
Though Edna Carmelio,
adviser of the Ministry
of Agricultural
Development, says that
is not the case. The
"social seal" given to
biodiesel made from raw
material coming from
family farms entails a
tax reduction that would
make the fuel 10 percent
cheaper. This makes it
competitive in the fuel
market, she says.
The government's
National Programme for
Production and use of
Biodiesel only mentions
castor oil and palm oil
for "maximum stimulus"
of tax exemptions,
because they are made
with already proven
technologies. But babaçú
and other raw materials
can benefit from the
incentives if they can
prove their viability in
family agriculture,
according to Carmelio.
The social seal is "a
protection for the
coconut breakers," which
would lessen the risk
that the babaçú forests
would be taken over by
big agro-energy
business, she said.
The state-run oil giant
Petrobras, for example,
only buys biofuel that
is certified by the
seal. Furthermore,
family farming, which
includes extractive
groups like the coconut
breakers, has access to
subsidised credits that
would expand their
advantages, said the
ministry's biofuel
expert. |
