Pine nut oil - an opportunity for the environment and for hundreds of rural Ecuadorian families in times of pandemic

Between March and June, approximately 1,200 harvesting families from rural areas in the province of Manabí, on the southern coast of Ecuador, travel more than 12,700 kilometers of pine nut hedges to harvest their seeds. The pine nut is a perennial shrub that grows in dry Ecuadorian areas and whose adaptability to extreme conditions of climate and soil makes it very valuable as a cultivation alternative for farming families in vulnerable places. After the harvest, the seeds are sold at about 56 supply centers for the members of the Cooperative of Producers of Live Fences in Manabí (COOPROCERMA), where they are responsible for harvesting and producing pure vegetable oil of pine nuts (AVP), which is then used as biofuel for generating clean electricity on the Floreana Island in the Galápagos. It is a project promoted by the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador and supported, since 2008, by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture ...