A muda da macaúba tem suas peculiaridades

There are many challenges to making macauba a star of the bioeconomy. This is the estimate of researcher Maurício Lopes, former president of Embrapa. Besides the limitations in seed germination, there are two stages in the production of macauba seedlings. The pre-nursery stage, where the seedling is cultivated in a protected environment with netting or shade cloth, and the nursery stage, where it is moved to the open air, exposed to the sun. This is when it enters the adaptation process. This palm tree has aroused the interest of researchers and entrepreneurs due to its productive potential for oil, high-value-added co-products, hardiness, wide adaptability, carbon sequestration capacity, and technical-economic viability for both fuel oil production and human consumption. Macauba is also known as macaiba bocaiuva, coco baboso, coco-de-espinho, and macajuba. It is a palm tree native to Brazil, present in different Brazilian biomes, especially in cerrado areas and semi-arid regions of the Northeast. Embrapa researcher Maurício Lopes emphasizes that macaúba has everything it takes to be the star of the bioeconomy. “There are still many challenges: improving and adapting macaúba to different realities, genetic improvement, agricultural risk zoning, to discover where macaúba thrives and where it doesn't,” the researcher highlighted. “Embrapa is aware that this species has a prominent place to occupy in this new revolution of sustainable development and microeconomy,” he adds. 00:00 macaúba 00:50 Embrapa research 01:20 problems and solutions 01:47 nursery system 04:49 potential 08:25 challenges