With AJE’s “Amarumayu” project, the communities of Peru’s Amazon Reserve have great incentive for sustainable use of exotic fruits such as aguaje and camu camu for forest conservation and a healthy drink industry that seeks to conquer the market globally .
(Agraria.pe) With the new century and new consumers, have come other criteria to measure the behavior of production chains around the world. It is clear that industry, with its great benefits, has great environmental obligations, therefore, it is not surprising that a counterpart appears that seeks to promote a new industrial vision of food and beverages based on nature. Is. And for this the ambition is to grow globally. The initiative originated in Peru and is already involving neighboring and distant countries.
Jorge López Doriga, Global Director of Communications and Sustainability of AJE, shares the vision from the “Amarumayu” project that this global Peruvian company is promoting from our country to the world. A dynamic that is successfully developing is to agree prices with communities in natural reserves and surrounding areas so that they commit to collecting exotic fruits for the industrial production of natural juices in exchange for the protection of the forests.
“We started this project with Sarnap and Minam in the Pakya Samiriya reserve. We started with nine communities and then we were able to expand outside the reserve. Now more than 20 communities work on the superfruit and they sell it to us at a reasonable price.”
The work began in 2019, when AJE launched its line of products based on Amazonian superfruits under the Bio Amayu brand to protect Peru’s unique biodiversity. “We must convince the world that green gold is more valuable than black or yellow gold. If we let the forests stand, we preserve them, that is the true value of Peru and the products and fruits of its forests He said that as a country we are part of the ‘G10’ in biodiversity.
A new user
The work, he says, is similar to the current era, where there is a conscious consumer who knows that the products they consume can have an impact on the environment, and therefore, are more willing to pay for more natural products and maintain their ready to change. Style. Of life
“This new global user is looking for biodiverse products from Natural Revolution. Today, before buying, the consumer asks himself whether it is good for me, for society, for the environment, he looks for quality and pays more does. And Peru needs to stop deforestation; over 60% of our carbon footprint comes from deforestation and land use change, we are not a super-industrial country, we are a country with forests”, López Doriga says.
“Amarumayu”, the word that gives its name to the project, is the word we know as the Amazon before the advent of the Conqueror. To signify this return to the roots, the focus is on leveraging fruits like aguaje and camu camu in a business dynamic in which communities earn livelihoods, in which industry wins by developing a line of truly healthy, and the environment wins. This is because incentives to avoid deforestation and to preserve large forests are important.
In this way, the activities are carried out by an affiliated firm, in alliance with the British government, Sernanp and Minam, in four Peruvian natural parks namely Pacaya Samaria, Manu, Allpahuayo Mishana Natural Reserve and Pucacuro National Reserve. A total of 7 million hectares where the exotic fruit comes from thanks to an alliance with 22 communities.
Big results
So far, AJE has bought over 800,000 kg of these fruits, which are an input for its drinks that are sold in the United States, Latin America, and soon Asia and Europe. This product also has the advantage of being the first juice in the world to be certified Climate Positive, because more than being carbon neutral, it is carbon positive.
The example has begun to expand and work is already underway in Colombia and Ecuador to develop similar value chains, always with an eye towards conservation, of exotic and under-exploited fruits. In addition, some of the Peruvian products have traveled to teach their brothers in those countries how to work on this type of project. A similar impulse is being taken in Thailand, where the focus is on the coconut flower, which has many properties.
“The future of Peru lies in its biodiversity, in protecting its Amazon, its standing forest, which makes us different and has an impressive value. Let’s build a Peru based on biodiversity, authentic green gold”, He concluded.
