Sustentabilidade da agroindústria de palma no estado do Pará / Sustainability of palm oil agro-industry at Pará State

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

30/09/2011

RESUMO

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.), originally from Africa, belongs to the family Arecaceae and genus Elaeis. Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest producers, accounting for 90% of the world production, while Brazil accounts for only 0.5%. However, those countries have used up their planting areas and are no longer able to expand them, under the guidelines of international committees for sustainability that do not allow the planting of native areas. In this context, the state of Pará Brazil becomes a potential to take over the world production, especially after the ecological and economic zoning of oil palm in Brazil, forbidding the cropping of native areas, which allows the activity to grow without causing deforestation of native forests. Currently, the main buyers of palm oil in the world are certified by the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a nonprofit institution that regulates the criteria and indicators for the sustainable production of palm oil under the economic, social and environmental perspectives. Thus, the aim of this research was to better understand the current scenarios of oil palm in the region, possible barriers, obstacles and areas for improvement in palm oil companies in Pará through a detailed study on the sustainability of the industry of palm oil under the economic, social and environmental aspects. In the economic aspect, we assessed taxes on the main agro-industrial chain of palm and their influence on production costs. In terms of environmental issues, an analysis was conducted on the life cycle assessment (LCA), identifying the major CO2 releasers in the agribusiness chain from the palm nursery until the extraction of oil in the industry. We also assessed the genetic resources of the main crops and indications of disease-resistant varieties of the region. Finally, we analyzed the social sustainability of the palm oil family farming program in the region. The data were analyzed in accordance to the RSPO sustainability guidelines to assess the compliance of the actual conditions to the certifications established by the main committee for palm oil plantations worldwide. Labor costs and inputs are the major considerable factors on production costs, with the participation of family farming still quite small, structured in 25-year contracts with companies in the region. The use of diesel and fertilizers account for most CO2 emissions and 10 varieties of palm oil trees are used in five production regions in the state of Pará. Water use management and disposal of effluents are the major nonconformities to the RSPO guidelines.

ASSUNTO(S)

indústria agrícola Óleo de dendê - certificação biodiversidade sustainability agribusiness palm oil certification biodiversity sustentabilidade

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