Oil from the inaja palm, or great Brazilian palm (Maximiliana regia), will be used to fuel small electrical plants for isolated communities in the Amazonian frontier. A pilot project capable of supplying 40 families will begin in March in the northern state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela.

“Natural oil will be used, not biodiesel, which requires complex technology for these parts,” said Antonio Carlos Cordeiro, head of the Roraima center of EMBRAPA, the national agricultural research agency.

The palm's productivity is not yet known, but it is highly resistant to fire, and 40 to 60 percent of the fruit is oil, Cordeiro told Tierramérica.