People of the forest learn to add value to cupuaçu seed with Instituto Amazônia 4.0

01/18/2023

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Ismael Nobre — Foto: Carol Carquejeiro/Valor

Hundreds or even thousands of mobile and dismountable chocolate factories distributed throughout the Amazon Forest, operated by local people, including indigenous people. The idea, which will start to be implemented in March four communities, came from the initiative of a small group of scientists who created Instituto Amazônia 4.0 – and have in common the preservation of the forest. They saw in these mobile bio-factories, or Amazon Creative Laboratories (LCAs), as they are called, a way for the people of the forest to add value to cocoa and cupuaçu seeds, which they currently sell as raw material or with little processing.

The investment so far amounts to R$5.6 million, without considering the donations of knowledge, equipment, and working hours provided by companies, volunteers, and chocolate experts.

IDB Lab, which is the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank, is investing R$3 million this year in the current phase of the project – the proof of concept, with technology provided by NEC do Brasil, to prove that the project is feasible and financially viable. The funds are destined to take the innovation to the communities and hire Conexsus, which will prepare them for the business – credit profile, knowledge of what they are selling, rounds of negotiations with municipalities and more.

Another R$2.6 million have been invested so far in the cocoa-cupuaçu value chain, considering consulting, equipment purchase, transformations made in equipment, and technological adaptation. The funds were financially executed with the purchase of the geodesic domes, a type of triangular structure tent, rigid and resistant that constitutes the structure of the bio-factories. They were designed, with no money involved, by Atelier Marko Brajovic, using light, resistant, and demountable materials.

The prototype of the factory was made in São José dos Campos (São Paulo). A unit is being set up in Manaus (Amazonas), where the plants will be produced and then transported to the forest.

These factories allow cocoa and cupuaçu seeds to be processed into high-quality chocolate. Thus, instead of the price of R$10 per kilo of raw material sold, the communities will be able to earn R$200 per kilo of “fine” chocolate produced, said Ismael Nobre, a professor and researcher at the University of Campinas (Unicamp/SP).

A biologist, Ismael Nobre takes part in the project with his brother, climatologist Carlos Nobre, who was part of the international team of scientists awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007; and professor Tereza Cristina Brito Carvalho, from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo and coordinator of USP’s Sustainability Laboratory.

In 2017, less than half a dozen scientists created the Instituto Amazônia 4.0. Today, the Nobre brothers and Professor Carvalho remain. Professor Ismael, executive director, says that the institute represents the fourth industrial revolution and seeks to foster a new bioeconomy in the Amazon rainforest, through the hands of traditional and indigenous peoples.

Without polluting or harming the environment, the bio-factories will produce chocolate, taking advantage of the natural cacao and cupuaçu plantations, abundant in the forest. The business will be in the hands of the first chosen communities — riverside dwellers, quilombolas (descendants of escaped slaves), extractivists, and land reform settlers. Later, they will be expanded to other populations.

The riverside and quilombola communities already ferment cocoa and sell it to the fine chocolate industry. With this benefit, the price of R$10 for the raw material rises to R$30. Everyone is already involved in improving fermentation and learning methods to produce chocolate. These groups use rudimentary techniques and low-tech elements, but they are not satisfied with selling the product so cheaply, while ready-made chocolate costs about 20 times more, said Professor Ismael. The nascent chocolate is called “tree-to-bar.”

Abundant cocoa in the management area, existing work with the fruits, non-conformity with the sale price, and effort to add value were the main criteria adopted by the institute for choosing the communities that will receive training and will have priority in the search for support for the viability of business.

After the philanthropy capital used to start the process, investment funds will be needed for the massive implantation of the factories in a commercial system. The model will be conceived in such a way that local production can pay for the installation of the available factories.

The institute is thinking of a business model in which communities can “sign a factory,” which will be available as a service, and not as a possession, so communities do not need to have several million reais or the ability to contract donations or loans, said Professor Ismael. It’s something like software as a service, which the big tech companies have embraced.

More than a dream, the project is in the proof-of-concept phase. After the kick-off, scheduled for March, the four communities will be trained for eight months. For this, a complete itinerant factory, including a place for classes, will be taken from one community to another, starting with the extractive reserve and then moving on to the area of land reform settlers, quilombolas, and riverside dwellers, in that sequence. In 2024, another phase is expected to begin, expanding to the entire Amazon. But the financial equation is still being put together.

Technology engineers, food engineers, software engineers, personnel specialized in mechatronics (a combination of mechanics and electronics), architects and other specialists face the challenge presented by the scientists — to design a chocolate factory that could be built elsewhere and then assembled in the forest, at the same time modern and simple to operate.

Companies from different sectors joined the project. Companies from different sectors joined the project, such as NEC, which became a partner of the institute and took care of all the communication. Cristiano Blanez dos Santos, director of innovation at the company, says that it took two years of discussions and studies to decide which technology to offer. For communication, they chose radio.

Four internet service providers were identified, each about 30 kilometers from the communities. An antenna at the provider and another at the factory will enable communication, which will be made up of other equipment, such as routers and switches to distribute the signal throughout the facilities. Surrounding populations are potential customers for these companies.

The factories will have cabling, computer, access control to the machines by facial recognition, voice commands, electronic sensors, oven, all automated and coordinated by the institute, said Blanez dos Santos.

“The person doesn’t even need to be able to read the machine instructions,” said the biologist. “The machine will support several languages, including indigenous languages. Even the indigenous people who doesn’t speak Portuguese will be able to operate the machines like any of us and make production happen.”

The dome environments are triangular, divided into the factory; roasting, oven and mill; and a place to mold the chocolate. The biggest tent is the factory tent, 5 meters high and 11 meters in diameter. Each unit is 100 square meters. The classroom dome has capacity for 40 students and is equipped with teaching materials such as tablets and electronic whiteboards, as well as software that connects the classrooms with the factory. While learning, the student sees what is happening in the factory. Through the internet of things, the data generated goes through the network.

“We created a ‘plug and play’ factory,” said Professor Ismael, playing with a concept that indicates ease of use. “In a week, you have a factory ready. It’s all modular and doesn’t need a foundation or earthworks, the systems have a floor that makes the leveling.”

The institute associates the culture, customs, and recipes of the people of the region with the expertise of renowned chefs from the chocolate industry, chocolatiers, engineers, and technology specialists. It was from this fusion that the portable bio-factories of the Amazon Creative Laboratories (LCAs) emerged.

One of the collaborations came from Cacauway, a chocolate factory located on the Tranzamazônica highway, in the municipality of Medicilândia, in Pará. Professor Ismael says that the business arose from a cooperative of producers who planted cocoa and sold it to large traders. Afterwards, they decided to set up a factory, today with their brand already consolidated. “But they had huge challenges, it took them years to reach a financial equation,” said the professor. “It was challenging to successfully replicate the business in many places, and to this day they still struggle.”

However, communities enter the business with an advantage. They will not need to repeat all the steps taken by Cacauway. The process and technology have already been developed and facilitated. With this, the initiative to add value will be available to many populations, with the potential to generate multiple similar businesses, says Professor Ismael.

Other experts taught their recipes. The aggregation of value in this type of production is considered somewhat complex, with many variables to be mastered.

The institute’s research is currently focused on cupuaçu, cocoa, Brazil nuts, açaí, oils and genomics. The most advanced project is the cupuaçu-cocoa laboratories. In 2018, researchers chose cocoa as the first value chain to work on. The cupuaçu seed, with which it is possible to produce chocolate that competes with cocoa chocolate, is not used today by the communities – it is thrown away.

At the beginning of the project, in 2019, after learning about the extraction processes, the researchers made a layout of what the chocolate factory would be like. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the process was delayed, but it took off and maintained an accelerated pace in 2020 and 2021.

The solar energy system powers the entire factory and eliminates the need for a thermal power plant. A water production plant guarantees the purity of the liquid, classified by the health regulator Anvisa for use in the food chain. The water treatment station, with non-polluting resources, is computer controlled and has several filters to eliminate particles, odors, bacteria and chlorinate. The professor claims that this treatment was provided by São José dos Campos-based company Resix, which patented the automatic chlorination system.

The energy equation was developed by the institute, but the solar power that will be used in the factory will be able to serve the whole community later.

A chocolate manufacturer from São José dos Campos (Argonay) also collaborated, says Professor Ismael. “The owner of the factory is an aerospace engineer who is now dedicated to chocolate. He has the mind of an inventor, he is an engineer, capable of taking chocolate and translating it into technologies.”

With the evolution of the process, the scientists hope that technologies, collaboration and promotion can and will enable vertical value chains where local communities are the owners of the processes, generate more funds, more wealth from the input of the forest, imagines Ismael Noble.

*By Ivone Santana — São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/