Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The urban market of Açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and rural land use change: Ethnographic insights into the role of price and land tenure constraining agricultural choices in the Amazon estuary

  • Published:
Urban Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the recent development of the açaí fruit economy in regional Amazonian urban markets (as a staple food) and more recently among national and international consumers (as a fashion food) and the consequences for agroforestry intensification by Caboclo communities in the Amazon estuary. The paper is based on long-term ethnographic research and field experiments; the açaí fruit economy is discussed from agricultural, social, and economic perspectives; attention is given to its historical development, the structure of açaí fruit production, its agents, the relationship among themselves and the urban market. Decadal price performance is presented for açaí fruit and açaí transportation costs and compared to major agropastoral products for the Eastern Amazon region. Dominant views about the ‘economic rationality’ of rural producers' decision-making are discussed. Açaí fruit has performed as well as and in some cases surpassed most agro-pastoral products of the Northern region. Economic returns for producers reflect linkages between price signals from urban markets, harvesting decision, and land tenure condition of the producer. Urban markets for the fruit is expanding and bringing new participants to the açaí fruit economy further conditioning the ability of rural producers to take advantage of external markets for forest products. Discussion of factors conditioning agricultural development and integration between urban and rural areas conclude the article.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, A.B. (1987) Use and management of native palm forest. In Agroforestry: Realities, Possibilities and Potencials (H.L. Gholz, ed.). Martinus Nijhoff Publisher, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A.B. (1988) Use and management of native forests dominated by Acai Palm (Euterpe oleracea) in the Amazon estuary. Advances in Economic Botany 6, 144–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A.B. (1991) Forest management strategies by rural inhabitants in the Amazon estuary. In Rain Forest Regeneration and Management (A. Gómez-Pompa, T.C. Whitmore and M. Hadley, eds.). MAB series, Paris.

  • Anderson, A.B. (1991) Forest management strategies by rural inhabitants in the Amazon estuary. Rain Forest Regeneration and Management (A. Gomez-Pompa, T.C. Whitmore. and M. Hadley, eds.), vol. 6. MAB, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A.B., Gely, A., Strudwick, J., Sobel, G.L. and Pinto, M. das G.C. (1985) Um Sistema Agroforestal na Várzea do Estuário Amazônico (Ilha das Onças, Município de Barcarena, Estado do Pará). Acta Amazônica 15, 195–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A.B. and Iorys, E. (1992) The logic of extraction: resource management and income generation by extractive producers in the Amazon estuary. In Conservation of Neotropical Forests (R. Kent and C. Padoch, eds.). Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A.B., Mousasticoshvily, I. and Macedo, D.S. (1993) Impactos Ecológicos e Sócio-Econômicos da Exploração Seletiva de Virola no Estuário Amazônico. WWF, Brasil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, S.D. (1992) Engenhos de varzea: uma analise de declinio de um sistema de producao tradicional na Amazonia. In Amazônia: A Fronteira Agrícola 20 Anos Depois (P. Léna and A.E. Oliveira, eds.), CEJUP, Belém.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balick, M.J. (ed.) (1987) The palm—tree of life: biology, utilization and conservation. Advances in Economic Botany, 6.

  • Bates, H.W. (1863) (1988) The Naturalist on the River Amazon. Pinguin Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bovi M.L.A. et al. (1986) Biologia floral do açaizeiro (Euterpe oleracea Mart.). Congresso Nacional de Botanica, Abstracts page 61, Ouro Preto.

  • Bolsa Amazonica (2002): http://www.bolsaamazonia.com/eng/prod simba.asp

  • Brondizio, E.S. (1996) Forest Farmers: Human and Landscape Ecology of Caboclo Populations in the Amazon Estuary. Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondízio, E.S. (1999) Agroforestry intensification in the Amazon estuary. In Managing the Globalized Environment: Local Strategies to Secure Livelihoods (T. Granfelt, ed.), pp. 88–113. IT Publications, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondizio, E.S. (2001) Urban markets and land use intensification: the case of açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea) in the Amazon estuary. Paper presented at the XXIII Annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Washington, DC, 6-10 September, 2001 (Session: Frontier urbanization and environmental change I: Urban-rural linkages and rural landscape change).

  • Brondizio, E.S. (in press) From staple to fashion food: shifting cycles and shifting opportunities in the açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea) economy of the Amazon estuary. In Working Forests of the Tropics: Conservation through Sustainable Management? (D. Zarin et al., eds.). Columbia University Press, New York.

  • Brondizio, E.S., McCracken, S., Moran, E.F., Siqueira, A.D., Nelson, D.R. and Rodriguez-Pedraza, C. (2002) The Colonist footprint: towards a conceptual framework of land use and deforestation trajectories among small farmer colonists in Amazônia. In Land Use and Deforestation in the Amazon (C. Wood and R. Porro, eds.), pp. 133–161. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondízio, E.S., Moran, E.F., Mausel, P. and Wu, Y. (1994) Land use change in the Amazon estuary: patterns of Cabloco settlement and landscape management. Human Ecology 22(3), 249–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondizio, E.S., Moran, E.F., Mausel, P. and Wu, Y. (1996) Changes in land cover in the Amazon estuary: integration of thematic mapper with botanical and historical data. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 62(8), 921–929.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondízio, E.S., Moran, E.F., Mausel, P. and Yu, W. (1993) Dinâmica da vegetação no estuario do Amazonas: Ánalise temporal do uso da terra integrando imagens Landsat TM, levantamento florístico e dados etnográficos. Anais do 7th Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto II, 38–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondizio, E.S., Moran, E.F., Siqueira, A.D., Mausel, P., Wu, Y. and Li, Y. (1994) Mapping anthropogenic forest: using remote sensing in a multi-level approach to estimate production and distribution of managed palm forest (Euterpe oleracea) in the Amazon estuary. International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 30(7a), 184–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondízio, E.S. and Neves, W.A. (1997) A percepção do ambiente natural por parte de populações Caboclas do Estuário do Amazonas: Uma experiência piloto através do método de trilhas pré-fixadas. In Uma estratégia Latino Americana para Amazônia. (C. Pavan, ed.), vol. I, pp. 167–182. Editora UNESP, São Paulo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondizio, E.S. and Siqueira, A. (1992) O habitante Esquecido: o Caboclo no Contexto Amazônico. São Paulo em Perspectiva 6, 187–192. Fundação SEADE, SP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brondizio, E.S. and Siqueira, A.D. (1997) From extractivists to forest farmers: changing concepts of Caboclo agroforestry in the Amazon estuary. Research in Economic Anthropology 18, 234–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browder, J. and Godfrey, B. (1997) Rainforest Cities: Urbanization, Development, and Globalization of the Brazilian Amazon. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calzavara, B.B.G. (1972) As possibilidades do A¸ caizeiro no Estuário Amazônico. Boletim da Fundação de Ciências Agrárias do Pará 5, 1–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chibnik, M. (1994) Risky Rivers. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conjuntura Economica (1983-1995) Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro.

  • FIBGE (1974-1989) Produção da Estracao Vegetal e da Silvicultura. Depto. Agropecuário, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Rio de Janeiro.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hecht, S. (1992) Valuing land uses in Amazonia: Colonist agriculture, cattle, and petty extraction in comparative perspective. In Conservation of Neotropical Forests (K.H. Redford and C. Padoch, eds.), pp. 379–399. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiraoka, M. (1992) Caboclo and Ribereño resource management in Amazonia: a review. Conservation of Neotropical Forests (R. Kent and C. Padoch, eds.). Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiraoka, M. (1994) Mudanças nos Padrões Econômicos de uma População Ribeirinha do Estuário do Amazonas. In Povos das Aguas: Realidade e Perspectivas na Amazônia (L. Furtado, A.F. Mello and W. Leitão, eds.). MPEG/Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiraoka, M. (1985) Cash-cropping, wage-labor, and urbanward migrations: changing floodplain subsistence in the Peruvian Amazon. Studies in Third World Societies 32, 199–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiraoka, M. (1986) Zonation of Mestizo riverine farming systems in Northeast Peru. National Geographic Research 2(3), 354–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiraoka, M. (1989) Agricultural systems on the floodplains of the Peruvian Amazon. In Fragile Lands of Latin America (J.O. Browder, ed.). Westview Press, Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiraoka, M. (1999) (maurita flexuosa): Palms and their uses and management among the ribeirinhos of the Amazon Estuary. In Várzea, Diversity, Development and Conservation of Amazonia's White Water Flood Plains (Padoch et al., eds.). The NYBG Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homma, A. (1993) Extrativismo Vegetal na Amazonia: Limites e Oportunidades. Embrapa, Brasilia, D.F.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Research Center for Agroforestry (ICRAF). (1983) Resources for Agroforestry Diagnosis and Design. Working Paper no. 7. ICRAF, Nairobi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jardim, M.A. and Anderson, A. (1987) Manejo de Populacoes Nativas de Acaizeiro no Estuario Amazonico, Resultados Preliminares. Boletim de Pesquisa Florestal 15, 1–18, Curitiba.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jardim, M.A.G. and Kageyama, P.Y. (1994) Fenologia de floracao e frutificacao em populacao natural de açaizeiro (Euterpe oleracea) no estuario Amazonico. IPEF, Piracicaba 47, 62–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jardim, M.A.G. (1991) Aspectos da Biologia Reprodutiva de uma Populacao Natural de Acaizeiro (Euterpe Oleracea) no Estuario Amazonico. Unpublished Master Dissertation, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, University of Sao Paulo, S.P., Brazil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lima, R.R. (1956) Agricultura nas Varzeas do Estuario do Amazonas. Boletim Técnico do Instituto Agronômico do Norte 33, 1–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopes, A.V.F., Souza, J.M.S. and Calvazara, B.B.G. (1982) Aspectos Economicos do Acaizeiro. SUDAM, Belém.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F. (1974) The adaptive system of the Amazonian Caboclo. In Man in the Amazon (C. Wagley, ed.). The University of Florida Press, Gainesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F. (1981) Developing the Amazon. Indiana University, Bloomington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F. (1989) Models of native and folk adaptation in the Amazon. Advances in Economic Botany 7, 22–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F. (1990) A Ecologia Humana das Populacoes da Amazonia. Editora Vozes, Rio de Janeiro.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F. (1993) Minimum data for comparative human ecological studies. Advances in Human Ecology 2, 187–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F., Brondizio, E.S. and Mausel, P. (1994) Secondary succession and land use in the Amazon. National Geographic Research & Exploration 10(4), 456–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E.F., Brondizio, E.S., Mausel, P. and You, W. (1994) Deforestation in Amazonia: land use change from ground and space level perspective. Bioscience 44(5), 329–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muñiz-Miret, N., Vamos, R., Hiraoka, M., Montagnini, F. and Mendelsohn, R.O. (1996) The economic value of managing the açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) in the floodplains of the Amazon estuary, Pará, Brazil. Forest Ecology and Management 87 (1-3), 163–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murrieta, R.S. (1994) Diet and Subsitence: Changes in Three Caboclo Populations on Marajó Island, Amazonia, Brazil. M.A. Dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murrieta, R., Brondizio, E., Siqueira, A. and Moran, E. (1989) Estratégias de Subsistência de uma População Ribeirinha do Rio Marajó-acu, Ilha do Marajó, Brasil. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi 5(2), 147–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murrieta, R., Brondizio, E., Siqueira, A.D. and Moran, E. (1992) Estratégias de Subsistência da Comunidade de Praia Grande, Ilha de Marajó, Brasil. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi 8(2), 185–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murrieta, R.S.S., Dufor, D. and Siqueira, A.D. (1999) Diet, subsistence, and market in three Caboclo populations on Marajó Island, Amazon, Brazil. Human Ecology 3, 455–475.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad, D.C. and Schwartzman, S. (eds.) (1992) Non-Timber Products from Tropical Forests—Evaluation of a Conservation and Development Strategy. Advances in Economic Botany, vol. 9. New York Botanical Garden, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Netting, R.M. (1993) Smallholder, Householders—Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neves, W.A. (ed.) (1992) Antropologia Ecologica de Populacoes Ribeirinhas do Estuario do Amazonas: Subsis-tencia e Adapatacao. Relatorio Cientifico, CNPq, Brazil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nugent, S. (1993) Amazonian Caboclo Society. An Essay on Invisibility and Peasant Economy. BERG, Province, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padoch, C., Ayres, J.M., Pinedo-Vasquez, M. and Henderson, A. (eds.) (1999) Várzea Diversity, Development, and Conservation of Amazonia's White Water Flood Plains.The NYBG Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, C.M. (1992) The ecology and economics of oligarchic Amazonian forests. Advances of Economic Botany 9, 15–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, C., Gentry, A. and Mendelsohn, R. (1989) Valuation of an Amazon Rainforest. Nature 339, 656–657.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinedo-Vasques, M., Zarin, D. and Jipp, P. (1992) Economic returns from forest conversion in the Peruvian Amazon. Ecological Economics 6, 163–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinheiro, C.U.B. and Balick, M.J. (1987) Brazilian Palms. Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden, vol. 17. New York.

  • Pio Correa, M. (1926) Dicionario das Plantas Uteis do Brasil e das Exoticas Cultivadas. (1st edition). IBDF, Brasilia.

    Google Scholar 

  • POEMA (1994) Amazônia: Alianças em Defesa da Vida. Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poullet, D. (1998) Açaí: Estudo da cadeia produtiva. Instituto de Pesquisas Científicas e Tecnológicas do Estado do Amapá.

  • Revista Conjuntura Economica (1983-1995), Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro.

  • Rogez, H. (2000) Açaí: Preparo, composicao, e melhoramento da conservacao. Edufpa, Belém (Editora da Universidade Federal do Pará).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roosevelt, A.C. (1989) Resource management in Amazonia before the conquest: beyond ethnographic projection. Advances in Economic Botany 7, 30–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roosevelt, A.C. (1992) Moundbuilders of the Amazon: Geophysical Archeology on Marajó Island, Brazil. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siqueira, A.D. (1997) The Ecology of Food and Nutrition: Nutritional Status Among Caboclo Populations of the Amazon Estuary. Ph.D. Dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siqueira, A.D., Brondízio, E.S., Murrieta, R.S.S., Silva, H.P., Neves, W.A. and Viertler, R.B. (1993) Estratégias de subsistência da população do Igarapédo Paricatuba, Ilha de Marajó, Brasil. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Série Antropologia 9(2), 153–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strudwick, J. and Sobel, G.L. (1988) Uses of Euterpe Oleracea in the Amazon Estuary, Brazil. Advances in Economic Botany 6, 225–253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, A.R. (1853) Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses. J. van Voorst, London.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change, and Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University, Student Building, 130, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Eduardo S. Brondízio

  2. Department of Geography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

    Carolina A.M. Safar

  3. Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change, Indiana University, Student Building, 331, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Andréa D. Siqueira

Authors
  1. Eduardo S. Brondízio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carolina A.M. Safar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andréa D. Siqueira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brondízio, E.S., Safar, C.A. & Siqueira, A.D. The urban market of Açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and rural land use change: Ethnographic insights into the role of price and land tenure constraining agricultural choices in the Amazon estuary. Urban Ecosystems 6, 67–97 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025966613562

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025966613562

Search

Navigation