Text:
Riverside communities located along the Amazon River in the state of Amapá now have the support of Amazonbai, a cooperative that works with a model of extracting açaí from the forest. Through courses and techniques, the residents of these locations today reap the fruits that are recognized as the most sustainable in the country. The result of this is the economic development of the region, with the açaí pulp being exported to countries in Europe and North America.

INTERVIEWS:

Aldair dos Santos Correia - teacher and açaí producer

Paulo Edilson Rodrigues Correia - açaí producer

Amiraldo Enuns de Lima Picanço - president of the Amazonbai Cooperative

Gabriele Santos Correia - producer and monitor at Amazonbai

AMAZON AGENCY:

script and production
JOHNATHANN KLISMANN

editing and finalization
ALEXANDRE ALMEIDA

VT TIME: 08'57"

***SOUNDTRACK***

- Aldair dos Santos Correia - teacher and açaí producer
"I was born and raised here in the Beira Amazonas Community, I am the son of a farmer and a nurse. In addition to being a teacher, I am also a producer. Today I work with açaí extraction."

***SOUNDTRACK***

- Aldair dos Santos Correia - teacher and açaí producer
"Today, açaí in our riverside region, in the Amazon, is a very family activity. Today, most children between the ages of 8 and 12 already do this activity with their parents. It is a way of helping the family. The açaí activity, the practice of açaí, is in the essence of families."

***SOUNDTRACK***

- Paulo Edilson Rodrigues Correia - açaí producer
"We work with minimum impact management, where we only remove trees that get in the way of the açaí palm trees. Nobody touches the ones that don't get in the way. We only clear the areas where there are only açaí palm trees. Where there are no açaí trees, we leave them as they are to protect the animals and other things."

***SOUNDTRACK***

- Aldair dos Santos Correia - teacher and açaí producer
"The Amazonbai Cooperative came to strengthen us as producers within the Beira Amazonas Community. This whole relationship between good management and good collection practices, and the organization itself, both socially, politically and economically. The Cooperative works on training, guidance, the technical side, and we, as producers, do our job."

***audio of açaí harvest***

- Amiraldo Enuns de Lima Picanço - president of the Amazonbai Cooperative and forestry engineer
"Amazonbai began in 2013, from a community organization process, where there was a dialogue to accommodate demands and carry out a planning of the açaí production chains. From there, the workshops for building the community protocol for the Bailique Archipelago, in Amapá, began. So, Amazonbai emerged from this process. With the cooperative already in full development, the Beira Amazonas community protocol was created, where the residents of this other region organized themselves based on the demand for the açaí production chain. And at the end of 2019, they requested and were accepted to join Amazonbai"

- Paulo Edilson Rodrigues Correia - açaí producer
"This came as a glove, we really needed it, we were in a hurry and so we migrated to the Bailique project, which was the company of our dreams. Amazonbai didn't even need to change anything in the acronym, because Beira Amazonas was already included in the name of the cooperative."

- Amiraldo Enuns de Lima Picanço - president of the Amazonbai Cooperative and forestry engineer
"Today, there are a total of 141 rural producers from this estuary of the Amazon River, from the Carapanatuba Community to the end of the Amazon River in the Bailique Archipelago. So there are 141 cooperative members with almost 4 thousand hectares of managed, certified areas that are part of the açaí production process within Amazonbai."

***SOUNDTRACK***

- Gabriele Santos Correia - producer and monitor at Amazonbai
"To be a producer at Amazonbai, you have to follow certain rules and guidelines, because we have our certifications. You have to take a course on management and good practices. So, all producers who are currently part of Amazonbai go through this entire process. They clean the açaí, remove the residue left by the broom, and sometimes there are some insects in the middle, which they remove. Because we need the açaí to be very clean when it leaves here for the agroindustry, because our certifications require the producer to go through this entire process."

- Aldair dos Santos Correia - professor and açaí producer
"The açaí that leaves my area today goes to the cooperative with a seal. Anyone who consumes it abroad will know that it came from my area. Because it has a seal that contains all its identification, people know that it is from my area. If there is any problem with my açaí, the cooperative will also know that it came from my area. So, it is a traceability process that, in terms of the consumer market, is very important to know the origin of the product and its history. So, the açaí here has a whole history for us."

- Paulo Edilson Rodrigues Correia - açaí producer
"We have always... produced, we have always been mere cheap labor. We produced for big businessmen, wood, rubber, seeds, everything!!! We even did it to supplement our own food!! So, we have always dreamed of breaking this paradigm and being the owners of our own production. If we know how to plant, raise and generate wealth, then we know how to manage. If we know how to produce wealth for others, we also need to learn how to produce wealth for ourselves."

- Gabriele Santos Correia - producer and monitor at Amazonbai
"We have a fund within the Cooperative that gives 5% of the açaí that producers deliver. At the end of the year, this percentage goes back to the schools that are part of the community protocol, which are: the Escola Família Agroecológica, here in the Macacoari community, and the Escola Família do Bailique. So, it's not just the açaí! Today, Amazonbai makes a difference in our territory, in terms of income, health, education, especially in providing quality education for the producer's children.

- Amiraldo Enuns de Lima Picanço - president of the Amazonbai Cooperative and forestry engineer
"Today, we have producers with children in university graduating as doctors or engineers. So, this is part of all this support work, of developing the chain."

**audio of the work in the industry"

- Amiraldo Enuns de Lima Picanço - president of the Amazonbai Cooperative and forestry engineer
"Amazonbai is a pioneer in forest certification in the state of Amapá. It is a pioneer in legalized sustainable management with forestry licensing. The cooperative managed to create its internal management process, managed to build its own industry to benefit its product. It managed to reach the consumer market. Today we are reaching three countries: the United States, England and Italy. We are planning to send our product to the Middle East and we hope to reach the Asian market in the next few years."

***SOUNDTRACK***

- Paulo Edilson Rodrigues Correia - açaí producer
"We are managing to survive, right? Improving our standard of living without turning the Amazon... the part where we live... into a field, a grass plantation."

- Gabriele Santos Correia - producer and monitor at Amazonbai
"Taking care of our land, our space, taking care of nature, taking care of animals, because this is ours today, but tomorrow it will be for our children and grandchildren."

- Aldair dos Santos Correia - teacher and açaí producer
"We are true guardians of the Amazon, right? And what is it like to be a guardian and enjoy all of this? It is through extractivism, fishing, hunting, but with awareness, you know, with preservation."

- Amiraldo Enuns de Lima Picanço - president of the Amazonbai Cooperative and forestry engineer
"It is possible to bring economic and social development to the territory without degrading the environment. Looking at the forest in a different way. You need to take care of the forest to have and guarantee the future of new generations."

***END***

Source: Amazon Agency