Eight Sur is the largest operation of oil palm in the Ucayali region. For almost a decade it has added added value to this crop, making it a vegetable fat and oils that cross the Andes and export to everyone. “The vegetable fat is in everything. Since one gets up in the morning you use soap and shampoo. Also at breakfast, all bakery products have vegetable fat, as well as desserts, chocolates, sweet for minimizing the waste of its production process.
What is the impact of the company?
As a leading company in the region, we directly and indirectly benefit more than 20 thousand people in the Peruvian East. We are, for example, the largest formal employer in Todo Ucayali, more than 2,300 formal jobs in the form with all benefits. At the supply chain level, we give priority to the premises to boost the local economy. We have a chain of more than 500 suppliers that are families and live from providing goods to eight south. We also have a small palm growers supply chain to whom we give assistance in fertilizers for their seedlings. The impacts are multiple, for example, we sign conservation agreement with native communities to protect the forest. We have more than two thousand hectares of primary forest in protection.
How does eight south apply the circular economy in its activity?
Few know that oil palm is an industry with 100% circular economy. In the extractor plant the raw material is fresh fruit and the other input is water because oil extraction is a mechanical process, it does not use any chemical. If we assume that there are 100 kg of fruit, 30 kg become final products: oil oil, palmized oil and palmous flour. There are 70 kg of by -products, about 40 kg are biomass, the shell. That goes to the extractor plant that has a boiler and there passes pressure water that generates steam. Additionally, almost two megabytes of electrical energy capacity that supplies all the needs of the extractor plant passes through a turbine. Palm produces its own energy for this process. Then, there are about 30 kg of broom, ash, sludge that comes from production. That returns to plantations as an organic fertilizer that we have been using in combination with efficient microorganisms and we have achieved a substantial improvement of plantation soils.
And regarding water management?
Water is needed to cook the fruit and separate oils. Once the production process ends, it goes to an industrial wastewater treatment plant, which using bacteria, cleans the water until it is pure and returns like irrigation water to palm plantations. In that process in which the water is generated, methane gas is generated, which is the gas we use in kitchens with biogas. We plan to make an electric cogeneration plant using biogas to help rural electrification in the area where we operate because many of the nearby communities do not have access to electrification if they do not use engines. Thus, when using waste in plantation as an organic fertilizer, we reduce the use of conventional fertilizers, costs and help to the environment. With the electricity generation, when using the same biomass of the plant, we reduce costs and the use of fossil fuels. It is the perfect example of products and by -products in circular economy.
The oil palm is a substitute for the coca leaf …
The oil palm was born in Peru as a need to fight drug trafficking and illegal coca. It was the main part of this crop replacement program. In Peru there are more than 30 thousand hectares that have been cocaleras and left that illegal business to be palmic growers. That is an important impact, the oil palm is an alternative for profitable for the farmer.
What is the company’s sustainability plan?
It goes on several fronts. One is the issue of social impacts. We have about 25 neighboring communities of our operations, in 10 thousand hectares of land, three natives and the rest are mestizas. These communities are rural, remote and have felt the benefit of responsible private investment. With them we have a four -axis plan. Health, with care programs, medical campaigns in coordination with the authorities, construction of medical posts. In education we improve schools, the Internet to connect them with the world. The third axis is the basic infrastructure with two main themes. One is water, people drink water or cochas where there is a lot of contamination and that generates anemia, so we work to improve water quality. The other is infrastructure, the maintenance of roads because connectivity in rainy season is very complicated. The last axis is sport and culture, we are about to sign two agreements with the main universities of Ucayali and we encourage sports practices in the region. We always think of the three pillars of sustainability, economy, environment and people.
