Vital Muñoz enters the Amazon Bolivian, in search of the latest chestnuts it’s from the season. Like him, thousands of collectors are concerned about the advance of deforestation that is reducing the production of this fruit, an ally of the tropical forests.
“We took out more barrels (packages) before. “We have gone downhill”laments the 76-year-old harvester as he opens with a machete the blackened coconuts from which the Amazon nut or chestnut in shell is extracted.
Last year, 23,000 tons of chestnuts were exported, a drop from fifteen% compared to 2022, when 27,000 tons were sold, according to the private entity Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade.
He 90% of Bolivian production is distributed mainly in the Netherlands, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Brazil.
The chestnut is considered a superfood and Bolivia is one of its main producers, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“The forest recedes”
Vital lives in Nueva Vista, 1,200 kilometers from La Paz, a small community, with 42 families, that belongs to the municipality of Cobija, in the department of Pando, bordering Brazil.
“The forest recedes”, comments this farmer who works as a collector with five of his seven children.
According to him, he now has to walk about half an hour or more from his plot to the chestnut trees, when in the past he took the same trip in 15 minutes.
Shaded by thick vegetation, this time Vital enters the forest alone under the intense sun and humidity, to collect the last seeds of the harvest that runs from December to March.
In one day, a collector can extract a package of up to 70 kilos that is sold to marketing companies for the equivalent of 35 dollars.
Although this year the prices seemed to save the season, Vital observes with concern the loss of forested area year after year.
“Every day I come to my chaco (land), but this mountain is lost. “I stay here all day, I can’t imagine my life without the forest.”he says during one of the breaks in his work.
Just over 25,000 families are dedicated to harvesting chestnuts in shell throughout Bolivia, according to the state food agency.
The chestnut is produced naturally, without fertilizers or pesticides, solely through the pollination process that involves insects such as bees or rodent mammals such as the jochi.
An ally at risk
“Deforestation is a problem that affects the chestnut industry. Every year the forest is lost,” confirms forestry engineer Paul Cárdenas, from the Center for Research and Promotion of Peasants (Cipca) and who leads a research project on the subject.
With around 400,000 hectares destroyed, in 2022 Bolivia was one of the three countries in the world that lost the most tropical forest, according to the most recent report from the Global Forest Watch monitoring system.
Forest fires are suffocating the Bolivian Amazon. The government accuses settlers and agro-industrial entrepreneurs of being behind the burning in their attempt to expand the agricultural frontier.
Chestnuts come from Bertholletia excelsa, a tree native to South America that can reach 60 meters in height and live up to 1,000 years.
Even if they remain standing after the burning, the chestnut trees cease to be productive. “They need vegetation so that the bees that are pollinators can arrive”explains engineer Cárdenas.
The so-called chestnut region covers around 100,000 km2 (a 10% of the Bolivian surface), which represents the same extension of conserved territory, according to official figures.
“We don’t fumigate. “We arrange the path where we are going to enter without damaging the mother plant, which is the chestnut,” Walter Alvis, a 39-year-old harvester, stands out.
When Vital harvests, he only uses his machete to open the coconuts or to clear the path if there is a lot of vegetation. He knows that without forest there is no chestnut production.
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Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
