Why People Risk Their Lives To Harvest Açaí | True Cost | Business Insider

Most of the world’s açaí comes from the Amazon rainforest. People risk their lives to harvest the fruit, climbing palm trees that can grow taller than 50 feet. And while açaí has become one of the trendiest superfoods in recent decades, small farmers aren’t seeing a lot of the profits. The açaí industry has also taken heat over reports of child labor. We went to Brazil to find out how the world’s açaí gets from the Amazon to smoothie shops around the world.

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Why People Risk Their Lives To Harvest Açaí | True Cost | Business Insider

[drewlistones]

He seems like a very nice person. Wishing him good fortune and his açaí business to thrive.

[t.k]

I am a Brazilian who lives in the North region, basically in the Amazon rainforest, on a school trip visiting riverside communities (we call "ribeirinhos"), I saw a 75 year old man climb an açaí tree, they are a very hardworking and humble people.

[stephaniemoura]

I’m from Pará, and I have to say this video is very truthful and not exaggerated at all. I grew up eating açai from my families farm. It is a essential part of families nutrition in Pará. And it makes me soo sad to see it being romanticised by Americans/Europeans while the product just gets more expensive for local people.

And believe me, the açai sold in other parts of the world is much much weaker than the açai we eat in Pará. So you won’t even be getting all the nutrients on the same proportions. The açai that it’s sold even outside Pará but still in Brasil is not the same.

Also, the large plantations of açai that are not naturally grown are very detrimental for the biodiversity of the Amazon forest like said in this video, but in my mind the biggest problem wasn’t even said in this video. Açai takes a huge amount of water to grow. HUGE. (Naturally grown açai is only found in Amazon close to river beds or lakes nascent, or in some soil that received a lot of water naturally) If we begin to see large plantations of Açai just so some farmers can gain profit from it we’re going to have the avocado problem 2.0 but in Brazil. In Pará, in my state. And I don’t wanna see that.

[k.a.davison]

How many times in life are you going to hear someone, anyone, say "We are poor, but we are rich in spirit." That was a beautiful moment that I feel honored to have experienced.

[Nodz]

The reason why açaí is so popular is due to added sugar. It's almost impossible to find industrialized açaí without syrup (most use guaraná syrup, which is still mostly sugar with some flavoring). I lived in southern Brazil for most of my life, and I never tasted the actual berry, only the syrup-soaked açaí sorbet. So think of a bowl of açaí is as being as healthy as a bowl of maple syrup: a nice treat if you're physically active, but a sugar bomb if you're a couch potato.

[a.c.]

it's disgusting when people praise the work ethic of farmers like these without noticing how grossly overworked and underpaid they are, nobody deserves to be so desperate that they risk their life every day just to stay afloat

[orbit]

I don't know if the people that star in these videos get compensation but it would be lovely to see the Business Insider team use some of the profits from the video to help Lucas and other small family farmers buy processing machines.

[ahadmrauf]

I've only found acai here in the states with added sugar, but that final meal of rice, beans, and raw acai pulp looks delicious!

[worldcitizeng]

"We are poor but we are rich in spirits " the key to happiness 😊
Every time the media, celebrity promote a certain food, the farmers/producers don't benefit from it 😑 a few documentaries about avocado, salmon caused devastating effects on the communities. Look up salmon farming, it made me be extra careful when buying it

[FabioMarcineli]

I never saw a foreign news outlet explain so well about the Açaí industry and the Quilombola's reality, good job.

[its_princereal]

How sweet, he is such a pure hearted person. I wish him all the best👍 Love from India big brother 🙌🤝

[kezia-B]

Soo many Westerners are quick to call "child labour" but in some cultures, we have to help our parents and are thought to learn what they do in order to help out

[sr.liam]

I believe that for family farms, it is acceptable for the parents to allow their children to harvest, as long as the kids are physically able and they consent. For large corporation farms, it is unacceptable.

[rockyjohnson]

Thank you, to all the farmers that bring this to our table. we appreciate all your Hard work!

[anacarolinalimatavares]

Finalmente um vídeo sobre o Brasil, seria interessante um vídeo sobre a Castanha do Pará também.

[gilbertnicholas]

It's always refreshing to see people that aren't obsessed with material possessions just having enough for the family to eat and health makes them happy

[yeahboi]

I love how happy and contented Lucas is. We can certainly learn something from him. All the best.,

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

It's the same as the cocoa industry in Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast. Côte d'Ivoire leads in cocoa production, producing over two million tons per year. However, while the rest of the world enjoys chocolate in its many forms, the people harvesting the cocoa beans get little profit.

They don't even get to eat their products. A short documentary interviewing the Ivorian cocoa farmers gave them a European chocolate bar and it was the first time they tasted their product (one farmer didn't even know what people could make with cocoa beans; he just wanted to make a living). A farmer said he earned 7 EUROS per day, and he had to take care of 15 family members along with four laborers. The world is taking advantage of both these places and they can't keep up. Not to mention, cocoa production has led to the dramatic destruction of the country's tropical forests

[nulnoh]

It's a systemic problem for bottom of the supply chain. Acai, Chocolate, Coffee, Coconuts, etc... Expensive at the end of the chain, but dirt cheat at the start.

[mcfarofinha]

I'm from São Paulo, and for the longest time I had only tasted it in it's sweet form (really good btw). The first time I tried it in it's pure traditional form, I was shocked at how different, yet still delicious it really was. Hard to get outside of the Brazilian north, but I highly recommend it