A cadeia de valor do açaí: uma estratégia sistêmica na conservação dos agroecossistemas amazônicos no município de Carauari-AM

Abstract

The rural producer of traditional communities is one of the vital components for maintaining the characteristics of the phytophysiognomy of the forest environment in the Amazon. Activities such as the production and collection of açaí (Euterpe spp.) in communities in the municipality of Carauari point to a complex and integrated management with the social and organizational aspects of the local landscapes. The Legal Amazon is a tangle of human communities, associated with flora and fauna, in a constant construction and re-construction of the structures that make up it. The permanence of productive activities such as the commercialization of açaí fruit makes it possible to obtain agroecosystems that are prosperous from the point of view of the provision of global environmental services. The collective knowledge for the development of the activity proposes productions and reproductions in the form of self-organization in networks. These networks are schematic representations of the socio-environmental structures that make up certain places. They express the form of collective living, they also serve as tools for social analysis of the conduction of work carried out within agroecosystems. Açaí (Euterpe spp.) is a fruit traditionally consumed in northern Brazil. It is an important component of Amazonian biodiversity, with significant social, environmental and economic relevance. In the early years of the 21st century, açaí has gained its place in global value chains, largely because it is a recognized source of antioxidant, thus associating fruit juice as a healthy and revitalizing food. However, the pressures exerted by economic capital on the control mechanisms associated with production practices demonstrate negative social and environmental impacts within the communities in the Amazon. One of the ways to minimize this impact is through the establishment of systemic approaches along the value chains. The present study aims to develop a systemic approach to the production of açaí (Euterpe spp.) together with the different forms of management of the productive systems maintained by rural communities in Carauari in the state of Amazonas. The strategies established in the work organization processes associated with the açaí value chains proved to be efficient in the conservation of the agroecosystems, guaranteeing the pluriactivity in the actions of the agroextractivist and maintaining a harmonious relationship with the Amazon biodiversity and in the diversity of socio-cultural systems in Carauari. With the development of the systemic approach in this study it was possible to establish means of interaction with the whole, related to the social phenomenon for self-organization of the production and re-production of açaí in communities of Carauari. The analysis based on perspectives, such as the structure of açaizais, the pattern of organization of agroecosystems, the processes of cognition for the operationalization of value chains, the meanings associated with economic and immaterial factors, and the structuring of social communication networks allowed to obtain an integration of the characteristics that are interrelated to move the system in its complexity. Access to this information helps to understand and establish strategies for interventions on inputs and feedbacks that move the social, environmental and economic reality of this system. This research aims to support the development of systemic strategies for the conservation of agroecosystems in rural communities in the Amazon.