Brazil: Could macauba be a rainforest-friendly palm oil alternative?

One of the important reasons for these valuable forests is allowing the cultivation of oil palms for palm oil production. In response, many of the world's governments, environmentalists and environmentally conscious producers have sought a rainforest-friendly alternative to palm oil in an attempt to stem the tide of destruction. This is where Macauba comes into play. What is macauba oil? How does it protect rainforests? Macauba is a palm oil species native to Brazil. Like other vegetable oils, it can be used as an ingredient in cooking and in the production of products such as packaging. With a yield of approximately 2.5 metric tonnes of vegetable oil per hectare per year, the macauba plant is comparable to traditional oil palms in terms of its productivity. However, it requires less water and is more resistant to drought. This could mean that macauba palms could be grown for oil production on less fertile soils, degraded pasture lands in Brazil's drier regions, eliminating the ...