Acai Juice Commercial Exploitation

Acai Juice Commercial Exploitation

Palm Hearts: Acai and other Euterpe palm trees are the subject of commercial exploitation in South America. Palm hearts, eaten worldwide as a vegetable, are obtained by cutting the palm and removing the crown shaft, in which the heart is found. Palm hearts are the tender, whitish immature leaves of the palm frond just above the growing point on each stem. Although it has almost no nutritious value, palm hearts have been a staple food enjoyed by the local populations for generations and have also become a economic resource and export product for many rainforest countries. France, followed by the U.S. are the largest importers of palm hearts. There are over 120 registered palm heart processors operating in the Amazon, with a multitude of smaller unregistered family operations selling their harvests to the larger facilities with onsite canning operations. Originally, much of the commercial palm heart production in South America beginning in the 1960's came from a different palm tree, Euterpe edulis, which only produces a single trunk. (However, one large tree can yield up to 50 pounds of palm hearts.) Because the tree must be felled to extract the palm heart, palm heart exploitation without any adequate management severely decimated the wild populations of this species at an alarming rate.

After many native E. edulis palm groves disappeared, harvesters began using the acai palm as a more sustainable alternative since it produces many stems/trunks. Unlike it's cousin, when one of the Acai's stems is cut, more stems will grow back on the same root system and the cutting of some of the stems encourages fruiting on the remaining stems. Acai palm (E. oleracea) is now the world's main source of palm hearts. While Acai does offer a more sustainable alternative, it does not ensure that the correct exploitative harvesting methods will be used to guarantee the plant's survival. Huge stands of Acai palm are often over-exploited and sometimes entire groves are clear-felled for palm heart exploitation. Currently, there is a shortage of raw materials in many locations in the Amazon River estuary due to over-harvesting and a lack of sustainable management of native stands; palm heart processing plants in the area generally operate only 2-3 days per week. Ref: http://www.rain-tree.com/acai.htm

Most botanists concur that palm heart harvesting of any palm species is probably an unsustainable practice due to the damage done and the trees wasted in the process. The Acai palm's future does look rosy however, due to the rapidly growing profitable export market for the Acai fruit. Profits gleaned from sustainable harvesting of the Acai fruit are quickly outstripping the profits from unsustainable harvesting of the palm heart.