From the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, with its rich biodiversity, emerges a palm tree that stands out for its size, reaching up to 25 meters in height. The foliage, facing upwards, resembles a vegetal crown. The clusters, packed with a dark purple fruit when ripe, hang from the top like ponytails.
The Patauá palm, scientifically named Oenocarpus bataua, is one of the plant species of the Amazon. From the pulp of its oval fruits, which measure up to 3.5 centimeters, a high-quality oil is extracted, rich in fatty acids, similar to olive oil.
This oil is known to the communities in Northern Brazil, who traditionally use it in cooking, as well as for personal care, to promote hair growth and strengthen hair.
Natura delved into this traditional knowledge in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, located in Acre, and from it, established a research and innovation project that culminated in the creation of the new Ekos Patauá line. Its products harness the full power of Patauá oil to bring exclusive benefits to consumers, such as the ability to keep hair in its growth phase for longer, resulting in longer and stronger strands.
At the center of this story is the palm tree, with its clusters that support between 500 to 4,000 fruits, each weighing up to 15 grams. “To enable the use of these fruits in the Ekos line, we developed a productive chain with Good Practices in partnership with rural suppliers, ensuring worker safety, raw material quality, and forest sustainability,” says Carolina Domenico, a researcher at Natura who works on researching new plant species with cosmetic potential and developing productive chains from biodiversity.
A process then began to extract this powerful natural asset in the best way possible. Throughout the project, Natura developed a series of innovations, taking into account the unique characteristics of the plant.
A highlight of the field chain was the implementation of a new social technology “the high collection chair.”
Traditionally, collectors use a peconha to assist in climbing, a tool based on a rope tied to the feet, but this method is not safe and requires significant physical effort, in addition to being inefficient for collection during the rainy season, when the moss accumulated on the trunk of the plant prevents the peconha from adhering.
“To solve this issue, we purchased a model of the chair used for coconut collection in Asia, which was tested and approved by the collectors,” says Carolina. The high collection chair provides greater safety and less physical effort for the collector and improves productivity, as it allows climbing the wet palm tree.
In addition to the collection chair, the research project, in partnership with the collectors, produced the Good Practices Manual for Patauá Management, both of which were distributed among the supplying cooperatives, sharing information and technifying the productive chain.
The fruits, after being harvested, are kept in the dark, as light accelerates the rotting and disintegration of the asset. They then go into a cooling chamber. They cannot remain at room temperature for more than 48 hours, or the entire process is ruined.
Once frozen, the fruit can be kept this way for many months, ensuring its integrity in the subsequent stages of pulping, pressing, and transport, until the oil arrives at Natura's factory, where it will be used to create products in the Ekos Patauá line.
The story of the research around Patauá illustrates the wealth of possibilities that arise when traditional knowledge of our biodiversity intersects with cutting-edge technology. Consumers benefit by gaining access to the assets of the forest through products that are within their reach.
