You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed trudges through a muddy section of rainforest looking skyward in the search for açaí berries in the canopy above and slithers up with his knife – all the way up to the berries seen as a superfood in many wealthy countries throws the bunch onto a pile and moves on to the next tree he wipes the sweat from his face and says his legs hurt keep going," his father calls over from the neighboring palm The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 2/2024 (January 5th as the açaí pickers in the Amazon region are called a moniker that stems from the burlap strap they tie around their feet to help them climb – does what his father says Just another child laborer like his brother Nando before him who strip the berries from the branches with their hands stained purple by the açaí juice they set the full baskets on the dock in front of their house so that the boatsmen can see that they have something to sell Açaí pickers like Mailson use a burlap strap between their ankles to help them climb the smooth trunks of the açaí palms Mailson's brother with a basket full of açaí berries It is just another day for a Brazilian family that makes ends meet by harvesting this fruit on the banks of an Amazon tributary açaí is seen as the new miracle food for fitness and health Cafés in trendy neighborhoods serve the berries as a creamy purée in bowls and they are sold as smoothies and juice in the supermarkets German sellers advertise the berries as being rich in vitamins and antioxidants useful not only for warding off heart and digestive complaints but also for slowing down the aging process boosting the immune system and promoting fitness A further argument in favor of the berry put forth by climate change activists is that açaí berries are not farmed in expansive monocultures and that there is little or no rainforest destruction in their production pick them in the jungle behind their homes Men unloading a boat full of crates of açaí berries in Igarapé-Miri The açaí berry is seen as being good for the environment It would almost be the perfect product – that is if it weren’t for the children like Mailson doing a difficult and dangerous job at the very beginning of the production chain some 1.5 million tons of the berries are picked with around 90 percent of them coming from the state of Pará If you were to fly a drone above the area during the harvest period you would likely see tens of thousands of minors clambering up the slender palm tree trunks and sliding back down Child labor is officially banned in Brazil which is the reason public prosecutors are now investigating the açaí harvesting practices it is also extremely dangerous," says Jomar Souza who leads the department for combating child labor at the labor inspection authority in Bélem He speaks of "serious human rights violations." Jomar Souza is fighting against child labor Souza says there are cases of children breaking arms and legs falling from the trees is now confined to a wheelchair following a fall Others have been bitten by snakes or spiders while yet others have cut themselves with their knives or torn up the skin on their legs when the bark of the normally smooth trees is cracked Mailson says that his neighbor was impaled by a trunk when it snapped under his weight The risk of a tree breaking is lower when children are sent up the palm trees instead And the families are prepared to do so because the number of baskets they sell determine whether they live in mere poverty – or in abject squalor according to a youth welfare office report receives monthly pension payments at the level of the minimum wage and uses the açaí harvest to boost the family’s income Mailson told a social worker from the authority that he regularly missed school he frequently misses the school boat that collects the children from the docks in front of their homes Even though he is now repeating the fourth grade A school boat brings the children in the region to school in the morning and back home in the afternoon His story is typical of those who spend their childhoods picking açaí berries The social worker Maria Rodrigues has the accounts collected in her notebook as she sits together with Mailson on the veranda one morning in December Rodrigues works at the child welfare office in Igarapé-Miri The town bills itself as the global capital of açaí "Are you now going to school regularly?" Mailson nods She then wants to know if he has learned how to write his own name yet Mailson asks for a pen and then slowly scrawls his name before jumping into the river as though he’s trying to get away from all of the uncomfortable questions Mailson is a shy boy who simply shrugs his shoulders when asked about his dreams – almost as if dreams were the same things as books and toys And he also says that he misses his mother who just left without a word three years ago Mailson was seven when his father sent him up a palm tree for the first time He says he doesn’t like the work and that he’s afraid of falling his father tells him that he should have something to drink his father says he shouldn’t make such a big deal out of it the family can pick between 20 and 25 baskets per day and not just because the ripe berries go bad quickly For as long as there are açaí berries to pick the family must earn enough so that they can feed themselves in the hard months of January to June their veranda is full of boat engine parts junk that Mailson’s father tries to sell or repair When the school boat honks at shortly before noon he is sitting at his desk with 20 other schoolchildren at the next riverbend The teacher asks the children a few questions How many of you have ever fallen out of a tree The children all start talking over each other It isn’t easy to produce reliable statistics in this region One study from 2016 estimated that around 120,000 families are involved in harvesting açaí berries When state prosecutors traveled through the Igarapé-Miri region in July they learned that some schools had adjusted their holiday schedules to account for the açaí harvest believes that many parents only send their children to school so that they don’t lose support from the state welfare program Bolsa Família Given the economic situation faced by numerous families in the region the fact that many of the children are too tired to pay attention in class is of secondary importance he just gazes back with a quizzical look on his face He grew up on the opposite riverbank and started harvesting açaí at the age of seven isn’t it?" he says – as though climbing up a few trees to take care of the family’s needs were the same thing as feeding the machinery of a burgeoning global market relies on the help of all of his children to harvest the açaí berries "It’s part of our culture": That’s what the people here say after dropping the children off in the afternoon buying up the daily harvests and bringing the berries to the next middlemen at the ports It's also a sentiment repeated by the proud mayor of Igarapé-Miri should perhaps have an interest in improving the situation Some 80 percent of the residents of the Igarapé-Miri region earn their keep with açaí – as pickers Pina says that more than 100 trucks roll through the streets of his city – which is home to an Açaí Square fully eight processing plants have sprung up where the berries are crushed into a purée and frozen for shipping A new port with four truck ramps is currently under construction down on the banks of the Maiauatá River Roberto Pina is one of the largest açaí producers in the Igarapé-Miri region Pina was sitting in a dimly lit meeting room in his home Pina says he doesn’t understand what the public prosecutors wanted from him when they made a recent visit to his office and spoke to him about child labor The region used to be home to sawmills and sugarcane plantations the açaí berries have brought a bit of prosperity to the area and people are able to afford things like televisions and refrigerators "And they want to take that away from us?" Pina asks He believes that such attitudes from politicians is one the reasons why so few cases are actually reported all completely ignore the problem because they harvest berries themselves or used to pick them when they were younger Or because they believe that protesting wouldn’t change anything Mailson lives in this house together with his family Mailson has a lunch of açaí purée before heading to school "Should the child welfare office take children away from families and do even more damage?" Souza asks and says that the situation is "complicated." He says there needs to be more checks and more educational work in addition to more pressure on the large companies making millions of dollars with açaí is that the very beginning of the production chain lies in the informal economy It is impossible to peer into the forests worked by families like the Olivas The boat drivers who then buy the fruit from them arrive long after the work of picking has been completed; they don’t see anything untoward The same is true for the factories that process the berries once they arrive in port Workers processing açaí berries in a factory in Igarapé-Miri Açaí berries packed up and ready for export It's for this reason that he is putting his hopes in the consumers in the West who expect transparent chains of production free of child labor He hopes that people on the other side of the world will understand that an informal cash-based business cannot be the foundation for sustainable structures the communities have no funds to invest in schools or universities And children who do not receive an education have little chance of escaping this cycle of poverty Department of Labor recently took the step of putting açaí on a list of goods produced with the help of child labor German traders have merely pointed to the social standards of the companies they buy from We have to rely on them," says an executive at the Fine Fruits Club a bowl of açaí purée can cost up to 13 euros Mailson’s father receives the equivalent of 10 euro cents If there is enough left over at the end of the month Seu Manoel gives his son Mailson a bit of pocket money Mailson says he often uses it to buy himself sweets at his school's snack bar Nossos serviços estão apresentando instabilidade no momento Algumas informações podem não estar disponíveis According to the Municipal Agricultural Survey (PAM) from 2015 to 2016 the national output of acai berry increased from 1.0 to 1.1 million metric tons The IBGE is now investigating acai crops in an agricultural survey for the first time Results show that Pará was the main producer among the Federation Units accounting for 98.3% of the national output The 20 biggest producing municipalities are located in that state with 305.6 thousand metric tons and 28.0% of the output in Brazil the five main producing municipalities (Igarapé-Miri Bujaru and Portel) account for 62.7% of the state production the value of output of fruits hit R$ 33.3 billion with an increase of 26.0% against the 2015 figure when the positive change had reached 48.6% The six main products represented 73.2% of the national output: orange (25.1%) São Paulo (30.9%) was the main state in terms of output value Petrolina (PE) accounted for the biggest contribution to the value of national output guava and banana are highlights in the municipality that had 1.9% of the national value of fruit Petrolina is located in the São Francisco Valley one of the most important regions for national fruit farming eight products accounted for the increase in output value “The increase in the output value resulted from the decrease of world and national stocks of orange As Brazil is the main producer and exporter of orange in the world the decrease of stocks represents a reduction of exports the rise of its price in the international market The other citrus fruits follow the same trend as that of orange were affected by the cold which led to the decrease of productivity of both crops The total value of agricultural output was R$ 317.5 billion The main factors accounting for that were the increases in the output of value of soybeans (16.1%) sugarcane (18.3%) and coffea arabica (43.5%) São Paulo is the main state in terms of participation in the output value an increase of 1.4% over the previous year the main national producer of soybeans and corn accounted for 20.8% of the output value of agriculture in the state of Mato Grosso (MT) It also took the leading position in the ranking of value of national agricultural output Text: Eduardo PeretImage: Flickr/Ubirajara MachadoGraph: Helga Szpiz © 2018 IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística Nós utilizamos cookies para melhorar sua experiência de navegação no portal. 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