In the early hours of the morning, after finishing a cup of coffee, Isaías Gemaque bids farewell to his wife, Izabela Campos, and takes command of the small boat loaded with cocoa. Slowly, he heads to the other bank of the Acará River, to his brother Zeno Gemaque's house, to unload the harvest. There, the seeds of the fruit are fermented and become cocoa beans, ready for roasting and grinding, a preliminary step in chocolate production.
The majority of Zeno's cocoa bean production goes to buyers outside of Pará. However, a portion is left there, on a wooden pier, ready to be collected by Valdirena Souza, 46, Isabela's mother.
Valdirena is one of the Cocoa Guardians, a group of eight women who prepare and sell "Acaraçú" chocolate, named after the community itself, located about a hundred kilometers from Belém, within the boundaries of the municipality of Acará. On the shelves of natural products stores or even in upscale restaurants in cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, "Acaraçú" chocolate—in artisanally packaged 20-gram bars—might seem like just another product from the Amazon, like so many others. But it is more than that. The chocolate from Acará is a small example of resistance to the easier and faster path to generate income in the region: monoculture, even that of local products such as açaí.
The initiative represents a local response to the environmental impacts caused by the intense production of açaí in recent years, ensuring income while keeping the forest standing. "We say that whoever buys one of these [chocolate bars] is not just buying chocolate. They are helping to keep the Amazon alive, the sustainability of the forest, and the families here," says Valdirena Souza.
The Acaraçú chocolate illustrates the process known as "tree to bar," an expression that represents production from the tree to the chocolate bar. In other words, the same community plants, harvests, ferments the beans, and produces the chocolate.
This production technique ensures a natural chocolate, rich in nutrients and without preservatives or other inputs characteristic of the large-scale industrial version. The properties, intense flavor, and the way it is produced cater to a specific market that recognizes the value beyond the price. "This is a growing market. But production in communities is on a small scale. It needs to be done this way because we don't want high, industrial scale that ends up encouraging monoculture. What we value in our market is precisely the native cocoa, combined with other species, made in the community, and that we cannot pressure for production," says Coi Belluzzo, a businessman in the industry and one of the main buyers from the Guardians, who sends chocolate bars to São Paulo, from where they are distributed again to customers in different parts of the country.
"Açaízation" - Açaí is recognized as one of the symbols of sustainable economy based on forest products. With a strong production chain, generating local income, Pará accounts for 94% of the national production of the fruit, which reached almost 1.6 million tons in 2022 alone, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
In addition to supplying the regional and national markets, the "boom" of açaí on the international stage is evident from the numbers. In 2012, Pará exported only 39 tons. In 2022, there were more than 8,000 tons to various international destinations, according to information from the International Business Center (CIN) of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pará (FIEPA). However, the high demand has caused impacts on the economy, the environment, and the local social dynamics
As it generates immediate income, riverside communities have prioritized the collection and sale of açaí, at the expense of other species, even opening up new spaces in the forest by cutting down trees to make room for açaí palms. This process, known as "açaízation," has been a cause for concern in the region. In an article published in 2021 on this topic, researchers—including Madson Freitas and Ima Vieira, both from the research center Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (MPEG)—highlighted the intensification of production, which brings benefits but also negative effects, although not yet fully quantified in numbers.
The researchers' survey was conducted in an area of 376,000 km² in Pará, in regions of upland forests and along the banks of rivers, especially the Pará, Guamá, and Tocantins rivers, and some areas of Marajó Island. "The intensification of açaí cultivation alters the structure of wild plant species, particularly the abundance of trees, species richness, and species dominance patterns. The abundance of trees and species richness consistently decrease as the density of açaí groves increases," the study emphasizes.
The Acaraçú area was one of the regions mapped by the study. There, upon realizing the impacts of clearing land on his property for exclusive açaí production, riverside resident João Carlos Rodrigues joined a group of local residents in Acará who are implementing the agroforestry system, combining different species in the same location.
"I've been living exclusively off açaí for about six years. We cleared a lot to plant more. I even think we took too much because today there are açaí trees dying due to the 'heat.' And where we cleared a lot, without other trees, açaí produces less," João Carlos Rodrigues analyzes.
With the replanting of other species combined in the same area, João already observes an increase in açaí productivity. "In this agroforestry model, you can plant anything, without exception. There were trees that we used to remove, thinking they were inconvenient for açaí, and today we know they're not, quite the opposite. Today, we're planting andiroba, rubber, cupuaçu, cocoa, acerola, banana, pineapple... everything that is possible to plant, we plant because it works, and we're already harvesting," he explains.
The group of residents working with this model was mobilized by Isabela Campos almost two years ago and now has nine members. They meet weekly to exchange experiences and support each other in any production needs. The idea arose after Isabela, a riverside resident, learned more about the agroforestry model through her brother-in-law, Zeno Gemaque.
Zeno, a community resident, supplied cocoa beans to the researcher and businessman César de Mendes, who worked in the chocolate production industry and had a property in Santa Bárbara do Pará, about 90 kilometers from Acaraçú, using the agroforestry model.
"There, I learned what agroforestry is. Everything that guy (mentioning César de Mendes) needed to live, he had there. So I came from there with that idea, that there was a small piece of land compared to ours, and he produces twice as much as we do," recalls Izabela.
With the organization of residents to increase cocoa and bean production, the next step was to produce chocolate right there. For this, a new group was formed, this time consisting only of women. Thus, the Cocoa Guardians emerged.
"We learned to make chocolate, liked it, and haven't stopped since," jokes Valdirena, one of the guardians. This year, between January and September, they have already produced and sold around 400 kilograms of chocolate. The goal is to double that in 2024, with improved techniques and the acquisition of new regular customers.
"We provided support with strategic planning, connection with partners, and technical assistance. The groups developed after the dialogues we conducted on the agroforestry system, the chocolate workshop, and various activities, from the quality of seeds and beans to planting seedlings," says Camille Lisboa, from the De Mendes Institute and a master's graduate in food science and technology from the Federal University of Pará.
Agroforestry is one of the pathways to generate income while preserving standing forests, according to economist
Examples of local production involving the combination of species, such as cocoa cultivation and "vertical integration," i.e., processing cocoa and beans into chocolate, as done by the Cocoa Guardians, are still rare. "If we want the forest to remain standing, agroforestry is the best system that meets and generates more local benefits and benefits for the environment," emphasizes economist Danilo Fernandes, Ph.D. in socioenvironmental development from the Center for High Amazonian Studies (NAEA) at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA).
The researcher is one of the authors of the study "New Economy of the Amazon," organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI), published this year. In Brazil, Pará leads in cocoa production, with 49% of the market, followed by Bahia with 45%. The national industry processes 93% of the Paraense cocoa bean production, while 6% goes to the international industry, according to the WRI study.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the processing is concentrated in large companies, which operate or receive cocoa beans from the Transamazon region, between the municipalities of Altamira, Medicilândia, and Uruará. Most of the transformation into chocolate derivatives still occurs outside the Amazon, mainly in industries located in southern Bahia and São Paulo.
According to Danilo Fernandes, the cocoa production chain needs close monitoring to prevent it from developing more intensively into monoculture, which goes against the intended direction of low-carbon economies and may replicate what happened with açaí production. "Opening areas for cocoa plantation would merely be agriculture and not systems that regenerate areas or protect local biodiversity," he emphasizes.
In terms of values, the community still does not solely depend on cocoa or chocolate, which currently represents an alternative to supplement income. "We can't say we live off of this. But we've already managed to buy some equipment to increase production, and that ensures a bit more for our things, which we didn't have before," says Valdirena of the Cocoa Guardians.
"Now we grow food," highlights riverside resident Izabela
For 26-year-old Isabela Campos, the most significant benefit provided by cocoa and chocolate activities is the savings on grocery expenses in downtown Acará, the improved quality of the food they consume, and, of course, the preservation of the forest. "The guardians now have their own income and more autonomy because, you know, we used to depend on our husbands. Not anymore. And here, as we combine species, we avoid leaving the production money in the city because we produce a good portion of our food right here," she explains.
This is the model that De Mendes advocates as essential and practical for recovering open areas and protecting properties that still maintain vegetation cover and biodiversity.
With five specializations and two master's degrees in Natural Product Chemistry and Food Technology, the professor left the university classrooms and invested in the production of chocolates with Amazonian cocoa. More recently, he stepped back from production to, through the institute, promote small cocoa production chains in agroforestry systems, as is happening in Acará and other communities where he works, including indigenous and quilombola peoples. "They (traditional peoples) are the true agents of transformation for a possible regeneration of the planet, of the forest," he asserts.
Eyeing COP 30 - The demand for forest products, which undergo processes that not only respect the environment but also help regenerate the forest, is expected to gain new momentum in the coming years. After all, the capital of Pará was confirmed as the venue for COP 30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in 2025. Due to the high global attention to the region and the interest in Amazonian products, the so-called bioeconomy is expected to receive even more attention.
Local Sebrae, for example, has created a space and designated a specific team to promote small local businesses, with incentive grants and ongoing support. "Our intention is to take advantage of this positive scenario to strengthen small businesses, providing conditions for them to definitively take on the role of protagonists in the sustainable development of the Amazon, as well as fostering local entrepreneurship," emphasizes Rubens Magno, the superintendent-director of Sebrae/PA.
Businessman Manoel Netto, who owns stores that sell Amazonian products in the capital Belém and has a space for products in the upscale restaurant of the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, shares the opinion and also observes a strong movement in valuing products based on the bioeconomy with support for local and traditional communities. "The value is above the price and it's not just a matter of quality. It's about generating income in the territory, valuing those who actually keep the forest standing. I believe this trend of appreciation is already underway and will increase, as we have already noticed in the demand at our units," he says.
Text: Daniel Nardin
Photos: Marcio Nagano
This report was produced with the support of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The content is entirely the responsibility of the Amazônia Vox project. The report can be reproduced in full, provided that the Amazônia Vox platform is cited.