Documentary: The children of the açaí industry

Brut America

"You think people know that it's the children that are actually working for them to have açaí?"   Indigenous to the Amazon, açaí berries are the hottest food trend on social media. But it hides a darker secret ... For Brut, reporter Nadège Justiniani met the children of the açaí industry in Brazil.

Transcript

00:00I tried my first A.A. bowl today.

00:02Oh!

00:03You know those trendy bowls you see on Instagram or on TikTok and that are based on frozen

00:10açaí?

00:11It's actually a fruit that comes from Brazil and here it's picked like this.

00:16You think they know that children are actually working for them to have açaí?

00:21I traveled to the north of Brazil in the Amazon's delta to meet these children who climb without

00:41any protection in the trees up to 20 meters from the ground to harvest and sell this red

00:48berry so sought after abroad.

02:18We have to choose the scissors we are going to use, look at the thickness of them, because

02:26there are some that are very thin, then we can go up and they fall, like my dad himself

02:31already went up in a scissor that was very crooked on the side and thin, she broke it with him

02:37and even hit his chest.

02:39And then it got difficult, you know, because I'm the one who works, right, the housekeeper.

02:56Look, I'm afraid, right, a little risky, but there's no way because he has to help me

03:05when I'm sick too.

03:06I'm going to show you.

03:21Hold it, just go from the back, like this.

03:34What happened?

03:35Hold it.

03:36And this one is very crooked?

03:37Let it go.

03:38Are you tired?

03:39Yes, because it's very tiring to go up and down, then you have to take the box back and look for

03:53a new one, then go up and down and the body is very tired.

04:01And what year did you start climbing?

04:04When I was 10 years old, I learned with my father, thank God.

04:08And have you ever had an accident?

04:11Already, I already took a fall with the scissor, because the scissor is more for here than

04:17I went to put this one, because it's my grandmother.

04:19The scissor is like this one, like the green scissor, then it's very thin and crooked, then

04:25I went up to put the box, then I thought she was going to hold me, then when I went up

04:29more, she took it and broke it with me, then I fell on the floor.

04:32Then I took a little faint, but I managed to come back and continue doing it.

04:38I was 13, 13 years old.

04:41Were you afraid of going back up after that?

04:43No, no, I was only afraid because I hit my arm, in case I broke these things.

05:00If your dad worried, why do you still let him go?

05:04Do you need to let him go for you to have a bit of money, thanks to the SAE?

05:08I wouldn't put it, if I had a better living condition, I wouldn't put my children

05:12to serve.

05:13But unfortunately we don't have, right?

05:15We live on this, practically.

05:17We don't give thanks to God, you know?

05:20And you have to survive.

05:23Rosa, is this dog standing still?

05:26Your mother says it's standing still.

05:28I don't think so.

05:29Maybe if I went to Rosa.

05:32I'll see if it's standing still.

05:34It's up to you.

05:35It's up to you.

05:40He's tired, exhausted.

05:42I look at him and I say right away, I'm going to have to find a job to make money,

05:47to start a better family, to leave them more unoccupied, less working,

05:53because at this age it's not so nice to work.

06:17It's early in the morning.

06:36We get there early, about five o'clock in the morning,

06:39and right away we leave, do the shopping and leave,

06:42and they're going to beat the hell out of them.

06:48When there's a lot of açaí, we sell it to the street vendors,

06:52because there are a lot of street vendors in our neighborhood

06:55who buy from us to resell in Ambaité.

06:59When there are few people, we sell in Ambaité without selling to the street vendors.

07:04Valdinei's family sells each basket of açaí berries for the equivalent of between $7 and $13,

07:11depending on the time of harvest and the amount of açaí berries available on the market.

07:16This makes the price per pound up to 14 times cheaper than the price of açaí berries sold abroad

07:23once they've been processed and frozen.

07:26Do you think they know that children are actually working for them to have açaí?

07:47I don't think so. I don't even know the truth.

07:52Sometimes I wonder what they're thinking,

07:56because I think a lot of them don't even know what açaí is.

08:01How açaí is taken from the tree and sent to them.

08:05I've been working with açaí for 15 years.

08:13What is your dream?

08:15My dream is to one day be a football player.

08:22To play and go to Europe.

08:25I don't know if I'll be able to start working,

08:30but I still have hope that one day I'll be able to do it.

08:41Do you see how beautiful her beak is?

08:44Are you going to have a drink?

08:48In this case, it's the families themselves who are teaching the children,

08:53because agriculture is called family agriculture.

08:56So the parents, from the age of 8,

09:00are already teaching the children to take the first steps

09:04to learn how to follow the family's activities, which is to take açaí.

09:10Have you never heard of accidents or children getting injured because of this?

09:16No, not with children. Not with açaí from a tree.

09:20They are very talented and gifted to go up from those trees without ever getting hurt.

09:26It's like I'm saying, children from the countryside are a bit smart for these things.

09:32Thank God, children never had an accident like this,

09:36that I know of.

09:45The trunk of the fruit tree is thin, fragile,

09:48and does not really bear well the weight of an adult.

09:52This is why it's the children who go and pick up the açaí.

09:56And being here, I realized that it was a taboo subject for the parents,

10:00because unfortunately, accidents and falls happen.

10:04Last year, two children even disappeared in the jungle

10:08after they were sent to pick up açaí.

10:15They didn't pay for our work.

10:18And we didn't let them go outside.

10:21We didn't bring them because it's a lot of work to get the açaí.

10:25Because we have to catch it, we have to unload it,

10:28we have to carry it to the boat,

10:30we have to take it from here to home,

10:33from home we have to take it to Baitetuba, and it's a lot of work.

10:37And it's very tiring, isn't it?

10:39Yes, it's very tiring, it's true.

10:45Açaí production in Baitetuba

11:03Do you have an idea of how many children are working in the açaí field?

11:08No, unfortunately, we don't have this numerical data.

11:12Almost all the families that live in this region,

11:15that have children, teenagers,

11:18some of them may be involved in this activity.

11:22But we don't have numerical data.

11:24Ah, the concept is there,

11:26so people usually have this difficulty in admitting it.

11:32So we have this, what we can say,

11:35sub-notification of child labor related to the açaí activity.

11:39Brazilian legislation forbids children under the age of 16 from working,

11:44unless it's for apprenticeship.

11:46However, there are currently 1.8 million minors working in Brazil,

11:50half of which work in dangerous conditions.

11:53Other than the taboo surrounding this issue,

11:56it's mainly a lack of political will

11:58that prevents these minors from receiving proper protection.

12:01President Jair Bolsonaro himself has defended child labor.

12:05Look at this.

12:07Working at the farm at the age of 9 or 10,

12:10I was not involved in anything.

12:12When a 9 or 10-year-old boy goes to work somewhere,

12:15it's full of people there.

12:17Slave labor, I don't know what.

12:19Child labor.

12:21Now, when he's smoking a pack of crack,

12:24no one says anything.

12:26So work doesn't interfere with anyone's life.

12:30Work means man, woman, age doesn't matter.

12:36My dream is to study, to graduate, to take a course,

12:41and then get a good job.

12:44I would stop learning açaí.

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