We helped him get his truck out of the river. After we washed the truck's motor it worked, and he left with another load of nuts. Even with automated shelling, collecting and processing Brazil nuts is a labor intensive operation. In the process, they can lose a third of their nuts to rot. Drop-off points for collectors can be up to 170 km from Cobija, and the trip to the processing plant can take several days.
Trucks carry chain saws to cut apart the huge trunks that often block their way.
Only an estimated 10 percent of Brazil nuts produced in the forests actually reach markets. Due to these difficulties, world sales of Brazil nuts have been stagnant since 1992. Moreover, burning in the Amazon forest has reduced the number of Brazil nut trees. He adds that there is evidence that the smoke is reducing the population of pollinating bees. Brazil nuts are not grown in plantations because they need the natural forest's pollinating insects to produce a large number of nuts.