Investing in future farming generations
How improved açaí production has funded education and reduced young people’s outmigration among the Porvenir Indigenous group.
Young people from APB Porvenir receive training through dialogues in the city of Santa Cruz (Photo: Daniela Claros Velez/FAO)
The Porvenir Indigenous group is part of the Chiquitano Indigenous People in the Bajo Paraguá Community Territory in Noel Kempf Mercado Park, a 12-hour drive from Santa Cruz in the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco.
Before 2009, the group harvested açaí palm by felling the entire tree to obtain its fibrous central core. That year, the community decided to make use of the palm fruit, which transformed their outlook and lives. They also established the cooperative, APB Porvenir (Asociación de Productores del Bosque Porvenir – Association of Porvenir Forest Producers). However, children and young people were still moving away, as they were unable to complete their studies in the community.
Forest and Farm Facility activities
Since 2022, support from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) has helped APB Porvenir to increase açaí production by providing new equipment, improving and expanding the processing plant’s facilities, and facilitating the transition to a sustainable açaí value chain. The cooperative now has over 140 members who manage 40,000 hectares of natural forests, from which they harvest non‑timber forest products under an approved forest‑management plan.
FFF support has also helped APB Porvenir to amend its statutes, which now include new guidelines for the organisation’s business operations and environmental guidelines for the use of its resources.
APB Porvenir also supports education and, since the municipality cannot allocate enough teachers to meet the community’s needs, pays the salary of a teacher. This has enabled children and young people to study in the community rather than migrate to San Ignacio de Velasco or Santa Cruz to complete their studies.
Significance of impact
The improved açaí production has brought economic benefits as well as increasing the community’s quality of life.
In addition to providing schooling for students locally, in 2021 APB Porvenir began awarding scholarships to students to study in Santa Cruz at public institutions. The organisation pays for their food, accommodation and books as an incentive for them to pursue their academic education. In 2025, two students received such scholarships.
Sustainability measures have been put in place to ensure this grant can continue over the long term. It has been decided the funds will come from the sale of açaí, as these incentive scholarships are a way of giving back to the community all the benefits this product brings.
Conclusion
With support from the FFF, APB Porvenir has not only made its members’ açaí production more sustainable and profitable, but has reinvested these benefits in education, to help secure the futures of the community’s children, young people and the generations to come.
Further reading
Beyond just buying: investing in equitable value chain partnerships with smallholders, Isabela Núñez del Prado Nieto, Nicola Sorsby, Sharmin Afroz, Almami Dampha, Sophie Evers, Leonora Mencos Martin-Hidalgo, Adita Montaño Rioja, Nguyen Huu Nhuan, Juan Carlos González, Kanimang Camara, Boris Fernández Arancibia, Ogden Rodas, Jorge Luis Sandoval, Pham Tai Thang (2025), case study
News: Bolivian producers build skills in climate resilience, Forest and Farm Facility (2025)