2024-03-03 23:09:03
It is a forest product that has little weight on the world market, but however limited the production, the Amazon nut market is crucial to fight against deforestation.
On the nut market, those from the Amazon represent barely 1% of the trade – or 31,000 tonnes in 2021. This is what we call a niche market. But this superfood, known for its richness in selenium, also has a completely unknown ecological virtue. And this is what is now pushing the Dutch bank FMO, via one of its funds supporting sustainable projects – the DFCD Dutch Fund for Climate and Development – to support this confidential economic sector.
The environmental stakes are enormous: as long as the demand for Brazil nuts, as they are also called, increases, or a minima is maintained, the forest in which the walnut grows has a chance of being preserved. This is what Olivier Antoine, president of the ORAE Geopolitics firm, explains in the latest rapport Demeter on global agricultural issues published this February. Knowing that the density is approximately one tree per hectare, European imports which amounted to 11 million kilos of nuts in 2021 alone make it possible to “protect” hundreds of thousands of hectares.
Production dependent on a unique ecosystem
The nut only grows in its natural environment, the forest, and only under certain conditions: “ Walnut pollination requires the interaction between a wild bee, an orchid and the walnut flower », explains Olivier Antoine, in other words only an ecosystem preserved under the crown of the walnut tree can sustain production.
But to motivate the pickers, they must also find an economic interest in it. Because when they face several cycles of prices that are too low, some drop out, change activities and take up breeding, the main alternative. They then contribute to the deforestation of the region.
Brazilian production falling
This is what happened in Brazil where immense forest areas gave way to livestock meadows. The country has long been the leading producer and exporter of Amazonian nuts, but today, the first place is occupied by Bolivia which supplies more than 70% of the market.
However, the pressure is increasingly strong on the border between Brazil (Acre region) and northern Bolivia (Béni region): “ The presence of the Brazilian cattle sector creates a windfall effect and the first cuts in the forest appear on the Bolivian side », Testifies the expert.
As pickers often have very little room for maneuver, they have no control over the prices of nuts. It is the importers who set the prices and who could also, in the coming years, despite themselves, contribute to accelerating the deforestation of the Amazon.
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