Extrativismo, cultivo e privatização do jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Holm.; Rutaceae) no Maranhão, Brasil

Abstract

RESUMO -(Extrativismo, cultivo e privatização do jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Holm.; Rutaceae) no Maranhão, Brasil). Um dos processos associados com a expansão de fronteiras em países em desenvolvimento consiste na privatização de recursos naturais, anteriormente de uso comum por populações tradicionais. Em geral, a privatização não só conduz à degradação dos recursos como também ao empobrecimento de comunidades locais dependentes desses recursos. Um exemplo desta transformação está no Estado do Maranhão, especialmente em uma região conhecida como "Pré-Amazônia", onde o jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Holm.; Rutaceae), um recurso natural que beneficiava milhares de pessoas da zona rural, foi gradativamente privatizado. A expansão do mercado de pilocarpina (um alcalóide de extenso uso em oftalmologia) nos últimos 30 anos, provocou crescimento descontrolado no extrativismo de folhas de jaborandi, conduzindo ao esgotamento e à ameaça de extinção das populações naturais deste recurso vegetal. Paralelamente, esta pressão sobre as populações naturais acelerou o processo de domesticação desta espécie e a sua privatização pela indústria farmacêutica. Este estudo teve como objetivo principal avaliar a exploração e cultivo do jaborandi no Maranhão, buscando o esclarecimento sobre os benefícios e malefícios econômicos, sociais e ambientais decorrentes da sua exploração. Os resultados obtidos mostram que, historicamente, não houve nenhum benefício significativo compartilhado entre a indústria farmacêu-tica e as populações envolvidas no extrativismo do jaborandi no Maranhão. Palavras-chave -Pilocarpus microphyllus, Extrativismo, Cultivo, Privatização, MaranhãoABSTRACT -Extractivism, cultivation and privatization of jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Holm.; Rutaceae) in Maranhão, Brazil). A process associated with frontier expansion in developing countries is the privatization of natural resources formerly held in common by traditional populations. An example of this transformation comes from Maranhão State, in a region of mid-northern Brazil known as "Pre-Amazônia" (PreAmazon), where jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Holm.; Rutaceae), a plant resource that used to benefit thousands of rural poor, is being increasingly privatized. This process began with the expansion of the pilocarpine market in the world, provoking uncontrolled growth in extraction of native plants and resource depletion. This paper reports the latest developments regarding the exploitation of P. microphyllus in Maranhão, describing the current system of production, from leaf collection to industrialization. It also discusses social, economic and environmental benefits/damages to the people who exploited jaborandi and to the natural populations of this plant species. The results showed that, historically, there were no significant benefits shared between the pharmaceutical industry and people in the past.

Pilocarpine content and molecular diversity in jaborandi

“…The amounts observed in the 20 genotypes are in agreement with previous values reported for jaborandi plants grown in greenhouse (Avancini et al, 2003). Plants in the field seem to accumulate more pilocarpine, with a mean values between 400-500 μg g -1 (Sousa et al, 1991;Pinheiro, 1997;2002), indicating that the content of pilocarpine might respond to environmental conditions. Indeed, it has been shown that secondary metabolites may have their concentration in plants strongly affected by biotic and abiotic factors (Waller & Novack, 1978;Dixon & Paiva, 1995).…”

“…The genus Pilocarpus has a wide distribution in the Brazilian territory, ranging from the northern state of Pará to the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul (Joseph, 1967) and P. microphyllus has been cited Genetic similarity to be more restricted to the northern state of Maranhão (Vieira, 1999;Pinheiro, 2002). Unfortunately, there is no information available on the reproductive mechanism of this species.…”

“…Plants of this genus are designated by the name jaborandi but only P. microphyllus, which accumulates the highest pilocarpine content, is considered the true jaborandi (Pinheiro, 1997;Vieira, 1999). Jaborandi grows as a shrub and it is found in the understorey of the preAmazonian rain forest and occurs more intensively in the state of Maranhão (Vieira, 1999;Pinheiro, 2002).…”

“…This know-how was mainly based on the observation that some collection areas contained plants with more pilocarpine than others and such plants presented larger leaflets. However, this might be related to soil fertility since the leaves containing higher contents were obtained from areas of pre-Amazonian rain forest while those with lower contents were either from 'cerrado' (Brazilian savanna) or areas along the coast (Pinheiro, 2002). Avancini et al (2003) observed that nutrientdeprived jaborandi seedlings produced less pilocarpine in the leaves.…”

In vitro effects of Pilocarpus microphyllus extracts and pilocarpine hydrochloride on Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

“…Over the last three decades this specie has been considered one of the most important in the Brazilian flora for the production of medications. There are approximately 15 million of Jaborandi plants in cultivation and these produce about 10,000 kg of leaves per year (PINHEIRO, 2002(PINHEIRO, , 2006. It is important to note that P. microphyllus has alkaloids that are viewed as promising sources in the quest for anti-parasitic agents (LEITE et al, 2011;VÉRAS et al, 2012).…”