The Hidden Potential of Non-wood Forest Products from the Bolivian Amazonia

The Amazonas encapsulate the most extensive biological reserve in the world. Most of its species have a positive impact on the Amazon inhabitants’ livelihoods, providing food, by-products, wood, and non-wood forest products in myriad forms, flavours, essences, and uses. Among these, palm dates, the Brazil nut, and asaí ( Euterpe precatoria ) provide products with commercial value for local dwellers as well as foreign markets. Asaí, or açaí, has been widely used in house building, traditional medicine preparations, and staple food. The asaí berry has also been recognized as a super-fruit because it fulfils all nutritional requirements and provides antioxidants and anthocyanins. The Pando region in the Bolivian Amazon consists of floodplains providing around 85% of the asaí in the territory. Traditionally, asaí was sold directly to Brazilian retailers, but this side-selling is no longer possible due to the creation of three Amazonian fruit processing centres that have helped to increase the demand for asaí. The method uses clean energy to heat water for processing, thus reducing the impact of side-selling, which lacks eco-friendly technologies. Adopting clean technologies and Good Agricultural Practices ( GAP ) help to fulfill the No 12 Sustainable Development Goal. On the other hand, the development of the asaí value chain has oriented pulp production to niche markets at the national level, even though there is a food security legal framework that is enforced by the creation of public food programs and food enterprises. One example of these, EMAPA , has a principal objective to produce, store, and commercialize local food products at fair prices and high levels of quality, but so far asai and other Amazonian fruits have not been incorporated into food programs for vulnerable populations.