26 PRODUCTSSPECIAL AND FEATURESMARKETS % ANDIROBA Economic value Andiroba oil is one of the most widely sold The uses and economic value of andiroba natural remedies in Amazonia. The oil industry (Carapa guianensis Aubl.) has its origins in the city of Cametá, in the Andiroba trees have straight trunks that can Brazilian state of Pará, and its reach 30 m in height, often with buttress commercialization generates significant roots. Growing throughout the Amazon employment and income throughout basin, Central America and Africa, andiroba Amazonia. In Cametá, children eagerly collect prefers seasonally flooded forests and the and sell andiroba seeds. Street children relate margins of rivers, but is also found in terra that 4 kg earns them US$0.10 – enough to buy firme forests. a packet of crackers. In Salvaterra, on Marajó A powerful anti-inflammatory medicinal Island, which lies at the mouth of the Amazon oil extracted from the seeds of andiroba is River, unemployed men, women and children one of the most widely used natural comb the beach for seeds washed down from Until recently, argan was a rare product remedies in the Amazon. Andiroba oil can inland rivers. In 2004, they could sell 1 kg grown only in the Atlas Mountains and mend badly sprained ankles, repel (about 55 seeds) for US$0.07 to companies in traditionally made by Moroccan tribes, as mosquitoes and is used in veterinary São Paulo. In 2009, in the Belém market, 1 litre the argan tree could not flourish outside medicine to cure the infected cuts of of andiroba oil costs on average US$6. Stores Morocco. animals. Indigenous groups in Brazil have often buy the oil during the harvest when Today, the Israeli company Sivan is traditionally painted their skin with a mixture prices are low, hold on to the oil and sell it out developing Argan 100 – a superstrain of of andiroba oil and the bright red pigment of season at a higher price. argan that is tolerant of the Mediterranean from the seeds of urucum (Bixa orellana). The oil is also in demand internationally climate and can produce ten times more Andiroba is also valued for its bark and and is exported to Europe and the United nuts than the average tree in Morocco, the wood. The bark can be made into a tea to States of America. From 1974 to 1985, company says. Based on 25 years of field fight fevers, worms, bacteria and tumours. In between 200 and 350 tonnes of oil were research, Sivan's agronomists found a way addition to its lightness and durability, exported annually, mainly from the Brazilian to produce the oil from their own groves andiroba wood is bitter and oily, deterring states of Maranhão, Pará and Amapá. In 2009, and refuted the widespread legend attacks by termites and caterpillars. in the United States of America, an 8-oz associated with the production of the oil. Because the deep, golden-hued wood is of (227-g) bottle of andiroba oil can be According to this legend, argan oil can only superior quality, andiroba is considered to be purchased over the Internet for between be processed from the nut – which looks on a par with mahogany. For this reason, it is US$23 and US$40. One proof of andiroba’s like an unripe olive – after its hard shell increasingly difficult to find in logged areas. popularity is the number of soaps, creams, has been removed via a goat's digestive oils and candles made from andiroba on the tract. Sivan’s chief agronomist Chaim Oren market in the Amazon region and throughout says there is in fact no need for goats to the world. In the supermarkets of Belém, the perform the job of intermediaries. “I was soaps can cost from US$1.50 to US$5, while exposed to argan trees many years ago, body oil (50 ml) costs US$3. A 150 g bag of and we did a breeding session in Israel,” andiroba bark costs US$1. Oren says. “We pollinated trees with other Whereas supermarkets, pharmacies and trees. Ours are resistant to soil disease, corner vendors in Belém sell andiroba, in the giving these trees a steady yield every western Amazonian state of Acre andiroba oil year.” is hard to find on the market: few To date, about 2 500 argan trees have communities in Acre produce the oil, and been planted in the Ashkelon, Arava and those that do generally produce it for local Negev regions in Israel. consumption. (Source: FAO, 2011. Fruit trees This commercial endeavour may also be and useful plants in Amazonian life.) beneficial for the argan trees in Morocco, MOSQUITO REPELLENT AND DENGUE as competition with the local market could FEVER reduce the tree’s chances of extinction. %ARGAN OIL The UN conservation body United Nations Andiroba oil can be used as a repellent Educational, Scientific and Cultural against gnats and mosquitoes. It also Rare Moroccan argan oil – now made in Organization (UNESCO) has set up reduces inflammation caused by insect, Israel reserves to protect the dwindling argan snake and bat bites. Studies by the Argan oil, rich in vitamin E and fatty acids, trees in Morocco. Research Institute of the State of has become the sensation of the decade, Sivan, founded in 2007 and based in Amapá (IEPA) discovered that candles sought after by chemists, dieticians, hair Ramat Hasharon, Israel, sells argan oil to made from the dry remnants of salons, chefs and cosmeticians. The only wholesalers, with small quantities of andiroba seeds repel the mosquito that problem with argan is its availability: the leftovers sold online. Their eventual plan carries dengue, Aedes aegypti. argan tree takes 15 years to yield nuts and is to sell Argan 100 to other countries. one tree can yield only a couple of litres of (Source: NoCamels, 8 February 2012 in oil, making production costly and limited. ENN Daily Newsletter.) NON-WOOD NEWS No. 24 May 2012 SPECIALPRODUCTS FEATURES AND MARKETS 27 % ARTEMISIA chemical reactor can produce 200 g of artemisinin per day, and unpublished Malaria hopes rise as chemists produce results indicate potential yields of up to MUGWORT USES IN NEPAL cheap artemisinin 800 g per day. "If we scale this up, in six The cost of the life-saving antimalarial months we will be at a point where • Mugwort has a high spiritual value in drug artemisinin could be lowered by a 400 reactors (that run continuously) will be Nepal; it is one of the most religious third, with a new method that utilizes a sufficient to produce the entire world's plants and is offered in almost all waste product from the current plant supply. Our reactors … could shave the ritual celebrations. Mugwort and extraction process, according to total cost of the drug by a third." flower are synonyms. Whenever new researchers. Large-scale production could start in as houses are built, mugwort foliage is Artemisinin is sourced from the early as six months' time if negotiations left on the ridge of the roof to cultivated plant Artemisia annua (sweet with pharmaceutical companies are protect the houses from evil. It is also wormwood), but demand is outstripping successful, Seeberger said. (Source: used extensively in the spiritual supply because artemisinin combination SciDev.Net Weekly Update, 23–29 January treatment of patients; local healers therapies (ACTs) are now recommended as 2012.) use the foliage to chase evil away a frontline treatment for malaria by the from the patient’s body. The World Health Organization (WHO). Multiple uses of Artemisia spp. in Japan mugwort flower has a special The artemisinin extraction process and Nepal importance during Dashain (the produces around ten times as much A recent study has investigated the largest Hindu festival in artemisinic acid as it does artemisinin multiple uses of Artemisia species in September/October). Elderly people itself. But converting the artemisinic acid Japan and Nepal. bless the young by putting mugwort precursor into the chemically more Artemisia, a shrubby species, is flowers/foliage on their heads. complex artemisinin molecule has proved distributed widely in different geographic • Mugwort is the most reliable and a "formidable challenge" for chemists, regions. The International Plant Names accessible medicine for rural people in researchers noted. They have now found a Index showed 2 058 entries for the genus Nepal for the treatments of cuts and quick and easy way of converting this acid Artemisia, reflecting the richness of the wounds. The fresh leaves are into artemisinin. They used continuous species and its varieties. Artemisia squeezed and applied. flow chemistry, which involves passing vulgaris and A. montana are widely • Mugwort is very effective against chemicals down a tube to increase distributed in the mountain regions of leeches. Those who have to walk or reaction times, efficiency and safety. This Nepal and Japan, respectively. These two work in leech-prone areas rub the differs from traditional “batch” chemistry species look alike in their appearance, size leaves on their skin. Mugwort foliage where chemicals are mixed together in a and overall site characteristics; however, is kept in rooms to get rid of fleas. large pot, and it has allowed researchers genetic closeness cannot be claimed • Brooms made from mugwort foliage to simplify one "crucial step" required to without further investigation. are thought to be effective in produce the molecule. The vernacular name for the Artemisia maintaining a healthy environment Peter Seeberger – director at the Max species is mugwort and the study by repelling insects. Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, considered that this represents both the • Mugwort is used as a green manure Germany, and co-author of the study species cited above.