By Isabel Teles
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – In the tiny community of Ilha da Jussara, at the northern tip of the Brazilian Amazon (NASDAQ: ), growing acai berries – a superfood known for its nutritional benefits – is a major source of income.
Production has increased by about 50% in the last decade, boosted by a dozen women in the village who struggled to secure sources of credit.
“In the beginning, the husbands took care of the product, of the production,” said Edna dos Anjos Nascimento Siqueira, known as Bezinha, as she plucked the small dark fruit from the branches of the acai palm and placed them in a basket. – Then we, the women, got started.
Bezinha, now 60, grew up following her father climbing acai berry trees in Ilha da Jussara to harvest the sour fruit used worldwide in juices, cosmetics and nutritional supplements.
She was the first woman to participate in meetings where the financing of rural business development was discussed.
According to Emater, the government’s sustainable development agency, women’s involvement in such small businesses has grown rapidly in rural Brazil.
In 2021, almost half of the rural credit from the federal program overseen by Emater that supports small farmers was used by female producers, it said.
The initial investment in projects such as acai from Ilha da Jussara is about 20,000 reais ($3,300), said Lucival Solim Chavez, agronomist at Emater.
After that, the land is financially self-sustaining, he said.
More broadly, acai berry production in Brazil grew 15% between 2020 and 2023, according to government statistics. The parastatal, in which Ilha da Jussara is located, accounts for 94% of the country’s production and is the largest exporter of fruit to food and cosmetic companies worldwide.
In the community around Ilha da Jussar, around 200 people are dedicated to the production of organic acai. Combined sales from communities in the area total about 1.37 million reais ($225,000) a year – more than 85% of their income, according to government figures.
During the harvest, families in the village can earn four times the minimum wage in the region.
“We have achieved a lot,” Bezinha said. “My friends who are part of it … have their own little house, their own little stove, their own bathroom. It’s a big deal for us.”
(1 USD = 6.0559 reais)
