THE TRADE OF PINHÃO (Araucaria angustifolia SEED) IN MINAS GERAIS: A STIMULUS FOR CONSERVATION?

The knowledge of the production and marketing chains of pinhão is centered in the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest region, in southern Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the pinhão production and marketing chains in a region of ecological tension (Seasonal Semideciduous Forest) and verify the pinhão trade effectiveness as a tool for araucaria conservation. This research was based on a statistical survey on pinhão extraction and trade, made available by governmental institutions. To identify establishments operating in the trade of pinhão in Minas Gerais (Brazil), structured interviews and a literature review of the legislation associated with the trade of forest products were conducted, establishing the relationship between the trade and conservation of araucaria. The results showed that Minas Gerais is the third-largest national producer of pinhão, accounting for 13.9% of production, and receiving the lowest remuneration for the extracted product. There is a predominance of a short marketing chain, in which producers or retailers negotiate with the consumer, resulting in greater profits for those involved in this process, who benefit from the lack of specific regulations and inspections in the extraction and trade of pinhão, leading to a predatory activity, which does not contribute to the preservation of araucaria. However, the use of appropriate instruments may make feasible the conservation of this species, combining its potential for use in forest restoration projects with the income from the commercialization of its seeds, thus developing an effective tool for the conservation of araucaria in rural properties in Minas Gerais.


INTRODUCTION
Araucaria angustifolia (Bertoloni) Otto Kuntze, popularly known as araucaria, Paraná pine, Brazilian pine, and curi, is a Brazilian forest species, also occurring in small patches in Argentina and Paraguay. It is typical of the Atlantic Forest biome, associated with a Mixed Ombrophilous Forest, called Araucaria Forest, also occurring in areas of ecological tension with the Seasonal Semideciduous Forest and the Dense Ombrophilous Forest. In Brazil, it massively predominates in the southern region and in sparse patches in the south of São Paulo, as well FLORESTA, Curitiba, PR, v. 51, n. 2, p. 346-353, abril/jun 2021. Marques, R. T. et.al. ISSN eletrônico 1982 DOI: 10.DOI: 10.5380/rf.v51 i2. 68781 347 as in areas of high altitude in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro (CARVALHO, 2003;FERREIRA et al., 2012;ZECHINE et al., 2012).
Due to rampant exploitation and reduction of native vegetation for the establishment of human activities, araucaria is on the national list of flora species threatened with extinction, classified as a "species in danger of extinction" (Ordinance No. 443/2014 of the Ministry of the Environment). Currently, araucaria produces highvalue wood and is appreciated by sawmills, joinery, carpentry, and furniture industry, but it also stands out for providing non-timber forest products (NTFP), i.e., its seeds (pinhão). Because of their significant energy reserves, araucaria seeds have become an important source of starch in the diet of humans, domestic animals, and wild fauna (CONFORTI; LUPANO, 2011;DANNER et al., 2012;ALBIERO JUNIOR et al., 2015;PALUDO et al., 2016;ZORTÉA-GUIDOLIN et al., 2017).
Roasted or boiled are the most common forms of consumption of pinhão by humans, being an important heritage from traditional populations in the southern region of Brazil (DANNER et al., 2012), creating a very important production chain in the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina. Some studies Santos et al., 2002;Silva and Reis, 2009;Brandt and Nodari, 2011;Figueiredo Filho et al., 2011;Danner et al., 2012;Zechine et al., 2012;Menegathti et al., 2014;Reis et al., 2014;Jacinto et al., 2016;Silva and Miguel, 2017 emphasize the importance of pinhão for the generation of income and maintenance of the regional culture of the populations of these states. However, there is a great gap regarding the knowledge of the production, use, and commercialization of pinhão in the other states where araucaria naturally occurs.
In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the pinhão production and marketing chains in a region of ecological tension (seasonal semideciduous forest) with the occurrence of araucaria, in Minas Gerais, and verify the pinhão trade effectiveness as a tool for araucaria conservation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The information obtained for the analysis of pinhão production in Minas Gerais was based on official data published annually by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The municipality of Barbacena (Minas Gerais) was selected for analyzing the pinhão marketing chains. The selection of the study area was motivated by the predominant forest, the Montana Semideciduous Seasonal Forest (CARVALHO et al., 2008), where araucaria naturally occurs, in Brazil (CARVALHO, 2003), at an average altitude of 1,164 m and under Cwb climate (wet temperate), according to Köppen classification (BARBACENA, 2004). These conditions favor the development of this species. Moreover, the municipality is located in a region of Minas Gerais that promotes trade with large urban centers.
Information on the volumes sold and prices of pinhão, in Barbacena, was obtained from the Supply Centers of S. A. Minas Gerais (Ceasaminas), through a census conducted from March to June 2017. All points of sale (trade stalls) were identified and mapped based on information obtained from the City Hall of Barbacena (PMB), the State Forestry Institute (IEF), the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of Minas Gerais (Emater), and the Military Environment Police of Minas Gerais (PMMG). The information was collected using a structured questionnaire, addressing the following questions: a) "What is the volume (kg) of pinhão sold weekly?"; b) "How much (R$/kg) of pinhão is sold weekly?"; c) "Does this establishment have an environmental license to sell pinhão?"; d) "How is the pinhão obtained for commercialization?".
Subsequently, bibliographic and documentary research on the legislation of araucaria conservation and commercialization of its seeds was carried out, in a national and state (Minas Gerais) context. This allowed us to analyze the period in which the pinhão is collected and sold, its regulation, and how this extraction chain influences the conservation of araucaria.

Production and trade of pinhão in Minas Gerais
The production of pinhão in Brazil from 2014 to 2017 is shown in Table 1 There was annual seasonality in the production of pinhão in Minas Gerais, with the lowest harvest in 2016 and the highest volume in 2017, accounting for 1,294 tons of seeds, which correspond to 13.9% of the Brazilian harvest (Table 1). Minas Gerais was the third largest national producer, behind the states of Paraná (38.7%) and Santa Catarina (37.1%) and followed by Rio Grande do Sul (10.2%) and São Paulo (0.1%). In 2017, the pinhão collected in Minas Gerais were sold at an average price of R$1.54/kg, which was the lowest remuneration among Brazilian states that extract this seed. This value was 37.6% lower than the national average.
In Minas Gerais, the municipalities that produce pinhão are located in two administrative mesoregions: South/Southwest of Minas and Campo das Vertentes   The pinhão production in Minas Gerais in 2017 comprised 37 municipalities, 34 of which, in the South/Southwest of Minas, were responsible for 99.4% of the harvest, among them, the municipality of Gonçalves was the largest regional and state producer. The rest of the harvest occurred in 3 municipalities in Campo das Vertentes, in which Barbacena was the largest producer in this mesoregion (Table 2) In Minas Gerais, six units of the Ceasaminas commercialize agricultural products: Belo Horizonte, Uberlândia, Barbacena, Juiz de Fora, Caratinga, and Governador Valadares (Table 3). Relationships are established between intermediaries, wholesalers, and retailers in these units, in which the pinhão is one of the products sold.
During the study period, it was observed that the pinhão was commercialized in four units Belo Horizonte, Uberlândia, Barbacena, and Juiz de Fora. Belo Horizonte and Uberlândia alternated in the first rank, accounting for 89.7% of the volume of pinhão sold in the Ceasaminas, in 2017. These units also had the highest values regarding the sale of pinhão due to not being in producing regions, which results in the addition of freight costs and intermediaries for the commercialization of pinhão.

Commercialization of pinhão in the municipality of Barbacena
A total of five tons of pinhão were extracted in Barbacena in 2017, which were sold by extractors for an average value of R$1.75/kg (IBGE, 2018). That same year, the commercialization of pinhão in the local Ceasaminas was only 120 kg, sold at an average price of R$2.18/kg (Table 3). For the research on the local commercialization of pinhão points of trade, establishments involved, volume and price of the product sold were surveyed (Table 4).  Twenty-seven sale establishments (fruit and vegetable stalls) were surveyed in Barbacena, concentrated in five strategic points for public access, which sold 4,290 kg of pinhão in 2017, being 73.7% of this commercialization downtown (open markets and fruit stalls). There was no record of pinhão commercialization in warehouses and supermarkets. The product is sold in natura, packed in nylon bags containing 2 kg of seeds, at an average price of R$3.51/kg. The highest prices were recorded in establishments located on the highway BR-040 (Table 4).
The activity was performed from March to July, with 62.5% of the total volume sold in April. Regarding the origin of the pinhão that drives the commercial network in Barbacena, 24 traders reported having purchased the seeds from extractors in the municipality, three traders collect the pinhão and only one trader reported purchasing the product from the Ceasaminas in Barbacena.

Legislation on pinhão trade and the conservation of araucaria in Minas Gerais
The Native Vegetation Protection Law (LPVN) (Federal Law No. 12,651/2012), popularly known as the Forest Code, establishes competence for federal, state, and municipal public authorities to create administrative requirements on registration and other forms of control of individuals and legal entities engaged in the extraction, industry or trade of forest products or by-products. In Minas Gerais, the forest and biodiversity protection law (State Law No. 20,922/2013) determines that it is mandatory, for those who sell products or by-products from native or cultivated flora in the state, to register and annually renew the registration at the competent body.
In Barbacena, none of the 27 establishments that commercialize the pinhão reported having an environmental license or registration to carry out the activity. Twenty-two establishments reported having a municipal license for walking trade in Barbacena and five establishments have authorization from the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) for using and occupying federal highway edges.
The federal regulation on pinhão harvest and trade was established by the normative ordinance of the extinct Brazilian Institute for Forest Development (IBDF) in 1976 (Department of Commercialization -DC;20/1976). This regulation prohibits the felling of adult araucaria trees at their seed fall period (April -June) and the harvesting and felling of immature pine cones before April 15, thus determining this date for the beginning of the harvest, transportation, and commercialization of pinhão. Minas Gerais has a specific regulation on araucaria (State Decree No. 46,602/2014), which declares that the remnants of primary and secondary native vegetation and those in the early and middle stages of Araucaria angustifolia must be protected from cutting and permanently preserved, making the cut, the harvest of planted trees and the use of non-wood products from plantations conditional upon the authorization of the competent environmental body.
In the absence of specific regulations for the harvesting and commercialization of pinhão from native forests in Minas Gerais, those involved in these activities are subject to following the federal decree DC-20/1976. This was not observed in the municipality of Barbacena, where 2,670 kg of pinhão, corresponding to 62.2% of this chain, was extracted before April 15 (Table 4), a period in which the activity is prohibited.

DISCUSSION
Minas Gerais stood out in the production of pinhão, ranking third among the producing states in Brazil. When compared to the South region, which comprises 96% of the original Araucaria Forest cover, this production is significantly lower; however, there is a strong tradition towards the production in the regional culture, consisting of use as human food, with consequent importance for the source of income of local populations (DANNER et al., 2012;MIGUEL, 2017).
Pinhão production in Minas Gerais is concentrated in the Serra da Mantiqueira region, in municipalities with a forest cover of seasonal Semi-deciduous Forest and Montana and Alto Montana Ombrophilous forest, areas of ecological tension with the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest. The producing municipalities in the South/Southwest of Minas Gerais account for almost the total pinhão production because of their forest cover of 247,405 hectares, according to a survey by Carvalho et al. (2008), whereas those in Campo das Vertentes account for 15,575 hectares.
When analyzing the commercialization of pinhão, based on the trade chains (short chain and long chain) described by Silva and Miguel (2017), it was observed that the long chain practically does not exist in the state of Minas Gerais. In this type of chain, the pinhão is obtained by consumers after going through commercial transactions between intermediaries, wholesalers, and retailers carried out in warehouses for the trade of agricultural products. Only 1.1% of the harvest was sold in the Ceasaminas units in 2017. This is quite different from what occurs in the other producing states, which, according to Danner et al. (2012), sold 2,388 tons of pinhão in Supply Centers (Ceasa) in the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, and 1,010 tons in the Company of Warehouses and General Warehouses in São Paulo (Ceagesp), corresponding to 35.6% of the total production in these states.
Three possibilities were raised for the low commercialization of pinhão in the long chain. The first one, as previously mentioned, is the lack of a cultural tradition towards the consumption of pinhão outside producing