Time for Camu-camu to take off?
From time to time, indigenous crops from developing countries have moved swiftly from relative obscurity to high-value exports of international renown. Think, for example, of açaí, a Brazilian palm fruit, or quinoa from the High Andes or shea from West Africa, all of which you will find in health food shops in the United States and Europe.
However, numerous more remain unknown. “For each indigenous crop superstar, there are hundreds of wild or partially domesticated indigenous plants and trees that remain relatively unknown,” says Jason Donovan, value chains expert at the World Agroforestry Centre’s Latin America office. Donovan and his colleague Trent Blare have looked at the challenges facing newly domesticated indigenous fruits, mainly focusing on the lessons learned from the camu-camu value chain in Peru. Camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia) has a lot going for it. A shrub which grows on seasonally flooded land beside the Amazon, its cherry-like fruits not only taste delicious, they contain 32 times more vitamin C than lemons by weight. They also possess many anti-oxidative and strong antiinflammatory properties.
Prior to the late 1990s, the shrub was only available in the wild and human consumption was limited to the remote Amazonian city of Iquitos. However, two factors led to camucamu production and consumption reaching far beyond Iquitos. First, a sizeable market for frozen camu-camu pulp was identified and developed in Japan as a result of a government-based effort to promote Peruvian agricultural products; and second, government agencies, including research stations, NGOs and international research centres developed an ambitious strategy to expand and domesticate camu-camu, with the aim of establishing some 10,000 hectares of new plantations. Since then the fruit has experienced cycles of boom and bust. In 2008, the Japanese export market collapsed and there was a significant dip in demand.Donovan and Blare examined camu-camu’s short and turbulent history as a domesticated crop by trawling through the grey literature and conducting interviews with over 50 producers – smallholder farmers living alongside the Amazon – and seven processors, most of whom are based in Lima.
They found that 9 out of 10 producers were satisfied with their engagement in the camucamu value chain. Many said that it helped them to send their children to school, improve their homes and meet their daily needs. “Camucamu is my future and it has provided many benefits to my family,” one farmer told them. However, most of the farmers are failing to follow recommended agronomic practices and are not harvesting as much as they could. Perhaps this is not surprising. “The boom and bust cycle of camu-camu has made it difficult for many smallholders to plan for the future,” explains Blare. “After the market crash in 2008, camu-camu farm gate prices went from about US$2 to less than a cent for a 25kg crate of fresh fruit.”
The processors also have their concerns. They point to the lack of uniformity of fruit, in terms of size and quality, and the high transaction costs involved in dealing with individual farmers, who are often difficult to reach as they live in remote areas that can only be accessed by boat. Furthermore, both farmers and local processes often lack refrigeration facilities needed to store the fruit.
The development of camu-camu in Peru can be considered a partial success story. In the context of value chain development, the question of how to achieve greater impact at scale in shorter time periods is an important one that has received limited attention. The camu-camu study provides insights into how to achieve greater impact.
“Our study shows that the private sector, while quick to engage with smallholders, has had limited capacity to build, expand and diversify camu-camu markets in Peru and abroad,” says Donovan. The research highlights the need for interventions that focus on the bottlenecks at different stages of the value chains. A continued focus only on farm-level technical solutions is insufficient. The authors suggest the need for greater collaboration among processors, smallholders, government agencies and NGOs to address the current and future challenges facing the value chains of camu-camu and other indigenous crops.
Reference
- Blare T, Donovan J. 2016. Building value chains for indigenous fruits: lessons from camu-camu in Peru.Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (Forthcoming)
