The palm known as majo (Oenocarpus bataua) has multiple traditional uses, including the production of mill and oil from its fruits; manufacturing of roofs and handcrafts from its leaves and seeds as well as some preparations with medicinal purposes.

One of our investigations on forest resources covered the biology, ecology, handling and trade of one of the majo products: The oil, which has a quality comparable to olive oil and is highly valued for its cosmetics qualities for hair and skin.

Traditionally, the majo is handled by different cultures from the woods as the Premontanos and the Amazonian peoples; the Yanomana from the North of Brazil; the Shipibo and Bora from the Peruvian Amazonia; the lecos and campesino communities from the Premontanos of La Paz, Bolivia, where TROPICO in alliance with two local production initiatives has put into practice the management of the woods. Before, the traditional handling many times involved throwing down the palm trees in order to use their fruits; currently, their producers use “trepadores” (a harness for waist and feet, which allows them to be safe while getting their harvest in) and the process of milk and oil extraction has been standardized so the offered products are clean and organic because no chemicals are used in their processing.

Producers have been assisting to Fairs of Biotrade and in 2008 the AOPEB awarded them a prize for good quality http://www.aopeb.org. This organization gathers 30.000 ecological producers and others in transition from Bolivia.

The production of oil is still small and the future plans include the establishment of alliances with other similar initiatives existing in the Amazonian region.