Aceba (Bolivia)
Showing all products produced by ACEBA (Bolivia), or containing products produced by ACEBA.
About ACEBA (Bolivia)
The Asociación de Comunidades Extractivistas del Bosque Amazónico is more commonly known as ACEBA (Bolivia). It’s a group of traditional Brazil nut harvesters located in the small community of Santa Rosa del Abuná. This tiny community is located in Pando, a region in the northern tip of Bolivia, where the country borders with Brazil.
ACEBA is an organization of people who harvest these organic Brazil nuts from their natural habitat in the Amazonian forest. The harvesters are commonly known as recolectores (“collectors”), as they wait until the large pods have fallen off the Brazil nut-bearing trees in the autumn. There is no need to harvest off of the trees themselves, as the pods drop when they’re ready. These large pods look a little like a coconut, and they must be broken open to retrieve the Brazil nuts, which are still protected inside their own tough shells. The nuts are brought to processing stations to begin the long process of preparing them: they must be parboiled, shelled, dried, roasted and packaged by the workers.
Bolivia is the top exporter of Brazil nuts in the world, accounting for about 3/4 of the Brazil nuts we enjoy worldwide. However, much of the profit made from these delicious and nutritious nuts is made by large companies rather than the hardworking Bolivians who collect the nuts. Because the Amazonian rainforest naturally provides such an abundance of these nuts, traditionally even the children would work as collectors in the fall so that families could earn a little more income. Unfortunately, because of this, children not only had to miss school; they would also often return with malaria or other illnesses. That’s why it’s important to look for Fairtrade Certified and organic Brazil nuts, so that you can be sure that no child labour was used in the collection of these nuts, and the workers still received a living wage for their labour!
ACEBA is certified organic and also Fairtrade Certified. That means you can feel great about supporting products that contain their beautiful Brazil nuts! Your purchase not only helps to keep children in school, it also means the community receives a Fairtrade Premium that they can invest into social programs locally—whatever programs the locals feel are most necessary to improve their quality of life. The most common uses for this Fairtrade Premium are related to education, health care and safe drinking water. All of these are crucial for a community to thrive, so we love partnering with this fair trade producer group to support sustainable development in ACEBA (Bolivia)!
