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Tropical Forest Research Network |
GLOBAL COMMODITIES WITH LOCAL VALUE: NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCT (NTFP) DEVELOPMENT IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON
By Kei Otsuki
This article discusses the limits and potential of non-timber forest product (NTFP) development, as promoted by a university programme called Poverty and Environment in Amazon Programme (POEMA) in the State of Pará in the eastern part of the Brazilian Amazon. Although the effectiveness is questionable and still to be examined, the development of NTFPs for sustainable forest management and poverty alleviation in the Amazon has been widely recognised as promising. In the early 1990s, NTFP development was regarded as an alternative to the modernisation-driven deforestation by large-scale development projects. It was expected that if NTFPs were turned into global commodities, they would support rain forest conservation and poverty alleviation. However, the market development of NTFPs is still in its infancy.
NTFP strategies in the
Brazilian Amazon
In the Brazilian Amazon, the initiative for NTFP development has been taken
in cooperation with multiple actors at both national and international level:
local associations and cooperatives, governmental and non-governmental organisations,
research institutions and universities, the private sector and international
organisations. The main NTFP development strategies pursued by these actors
are aimed either at strengthening existing non-timber forest extractivism by
revalorising products like fruits, palm hearts, fibre, latex and oil as sustainable
commodities or at introducing and applying innovative technologies to create
new products - mostly market-oriented and additionally processed. Examples are
automobile parts made of fibre taken from coconut husks and paper crafts made
of processed pulp of forest plants and fibres.
In fact, these two strategies are often combined through the establishment of productive chains. In the State of Pará, the POEMA programme run by the Federal University of Pará has led to the creation and establishment of productive chains. In the case of automobile parts made from pieces of coconut fibres, for example, the coconut husks are processed into fibres using simple and adapted technologies in rural communities and sent to a central factory on the outskirts of the capital of the state of Pará, Belém, where the fibres are turned, using natural latex, into seats and headrests for trucks, cars and motorbikes. The products are sold to multinational automobile companies. Residues of the fibres from the factory are then processed further to produce pulp, mixed with natural fibres unique to the Amazon such as curauá (Ananas electifolius) supplied by different producers from various communities, which are eventually turned into paper and sub-products, involving local artists and craft makers.
Along the productive chain, POEMA created several institutional organisms in order to expand the opportunities for cooperating in NTFP development and marketing with other institutions and also in order to enhance income generation among the poor:
POEMA's institutional development suggests that NTFP development through productive chain establishment requires the complex involvement of a range of organisations. The productive chain promoted by these institutions connects rural communities to the cities and eventually to national and global markets.
Poverty alleviation
and market development
In terms of poverty alleviation, NTFP development in the Amazon should not only
be regarded as a tool for rural development and forest conservation as most
of the NTFP programmes suggest. According to the 2000 Demographic Census, the
rural population in the Northern Region of Brazil, which practically covers
the entire Amazon region, encompasses only 30% of its overall population (IBGE,
2000). After all, the Brazilian Amazon is already urbanised. NTFP development
therefore entails the scope for involving the urban poor suffering from unemployment.
Completing the NTFPs productive chain should lead to more processing units and
commercialisation opportunities in cities and the surrounding shantytowns.
The market development of the products is essential to ensure successful NTFP development. However, it is also the most challenging part of the development process. Even though NTFP development has been considered sustainable in the international development arena, the actual market for non-timber forest products occupies a mere 1.13% of all export value from North Region (Homma, 2002). It means that a more active cooperation and involvement of the private sector should be encouraged in terms of actual business promotion. At the same time, we must realise that the recognition of NTFPs in the internal market (local, regional and national) will open up new possibilities for market development, as Brazil has a large domestic market thanks to its high rate of urbanisation and the eagerness of the richer part of the country to find new business opportunities. Most of the paper and crafts of the Amazon, for example, are sold in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Conclusion - NTFPs as
global commodities with local value
NTFP development is a clear example of the (re)valorisation and promotion of
once ignored or undervalued local products as global commodities that contribute
to the sustainable forest management of the world's tropical regions. However,
the market for the products remains very small and, as a result, the niche of
market demand for NTFPs is becoming saturated in developed countries. We must
therefore consider the integration of a variety of markets - local, regional,
national and international - in order to achieve further development. In the
Amazon, at least, NTFPs can become global commodities with local value by establishing
and completing the productive chains, which allow various institutions and people
to become involved.
References:
Homma, A.K.O. (2002). Do extrativismo à domesticação -
60 anos de história, p. 137-156 in A.D. Mendes (Org.) A Amazônia
e o seu banco. Manaus: Valer/Banco da Amazônia.
IBGE (2000) Censo Demográfico 2000. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE.
Further information:
Kei Otsuki
Unidade de Desenvolvimento dos Produtos - Amazon Paper
Rua Capitão Pedro Albuquerque 268
Cidade Velha
66020-010, Belém, Pará, Brazil
E-mail: mercados@amazonpaper.com.br
http://www.amazonpaper.com.br
In the Netherlands:
Rural Sociology Group, De Leeuwenborch, Wageningen University
Hollandsweg 1
6706KN Wageningen, The Netherlands
E-mail: Kei.Otsuki@wur.nl