Strategies For The Development of The Brazilian Amazon: Lessons Learned From Pre-Competitive Arrangements

Communities and companies based in the Legal Amazon already export 64 products compatible with the forest and obtain an average revenue of almost US$300 million per year, but this value corresponds to only 0.17% of the corresponding global markets. Surprisingly, the largest exporters of these products are not based in advanced industrial countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan. Rather, these companies and communities are located in countries with per capita income equal to or less than Brazil, such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Thailand.

How did these countries manage to convert their natural resources into competitive companies and how can the main lessons of these experiences be applied in the Amazon and in Brazil? To answer these questions, this report examines three cases where rural-based companies have been able to expand their share of competitive, demanding, and profitable markets. To maintain some comparability with the Amazon, the report identified one case in the Bolivian Amazon (Brazil nut) and two in Southeastern Brazil (sugar and differentiated and specialty coffees). The three cases are rich in detail and allow for a lot of inferences, but their central message is one: companies have managed to make a comeback thanks to their ability to build and undergo a system of continuous improvement.