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FR –
Brazil has arisen as the world’s largest food exporter in several
sectors in the last 4 years. In the conventional food production chain
in Brazil, there are some sectors that show technical and economic
viability. I believe that the organic food chain can be successful,
especially in relation to the foreign market; the factor that suggests
this is the viability of some sectors of the conventional food chain.
Examples: The meat chain, in which we have advanced production
technology. We have today all the processing and packaging knowledge
necessary.
The
meat chain is a good example due to the viability it has shown in the
last 3 years, when Brazil became the largest meat exporter in the world.
With the creation of marketing and production networks and alliances,
Brazil has developed know-how in the meat marketing and sales area, both
in the domestic and foreign markets. I do not mean just quantity, but
especially quality. Sales of Brazilian meat increase in the foreign
market, as a direct relation with the technological capacity the country
has to offer. Today, the meat chain is viable as production, processing
and sales.
The
development of the organic meat chain can be carried out in Brazil by
making technological adjustments very close to conventional meat
technology, due to the possibility of production, grazing and management
of cattle in a natural way. Brazil could also become the largest organic
meat exporter in the world. This production network for organic meat in
Brazil is still in its infancy. Demand in the international market is
far greater than world supply. Argentina, Australia and Uruguay, which
would be large organic meat exporters, will not be able to meet European
demand for organic meat. This is one example, it is an opportunity for
Brazil. |
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FR -
Brazil is one of the world’s largest fruit producers. However, it does
not occupy the position that would be justified by its output. One
example is Chile, whose area is much smaller than Brazil’s, but which
exports more fruit than we do. Some fruit, such as tropical fruit,
already have a well-developed system of organic production and are
technically viable. Economic viability is linked to the development of
the market for organic fruit, which is still very much at the
beginning.
The
fruit market is related to the guarantees and safety offered to the
purchaser, with the result that the European consumer feels sure that he
is consuming a safe Brazilian food product. We should remember that at
the end of this chain there is a demanding, well-informed consumer. The
purchaser will seek what the consumer wants. Food safety and quality are
fundamental to the consumer. |
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Planeta Orgânico:
What initiatives could the government offer to the
organic food sector in order to support this leap to the image of
the largest organic food producer in the world? |
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FR
– The issue of regulations based on the law will allow Brazil to
occupy an outstanding position in the international scenario of the
organic universe, just as is already the case with conventional
food.
We
have an important posture on the part of the Ministry of
Agriculture. An Agro-ecology Coordination area was created, which
should grow in importance and occupy a strategic position in the
drawing up of Multi-year Plans and Annual Budgets and, as a result,
ensure the foreign market an effective policy at the Ministry of
Agriculture. Consequently, purchasers would have greater confidence
in a dialogue with the Brazilian market.
At
the Ministry for Agrarian Development, work is being done in
promoting agro-ecology and organic agriculture, in which small and
medium-size family farming prevails; Brazil should carry on this
process of putting together these networks and all the support for
the certification process, enabling these small producers and family
farms to make their produce competitive and to place these products
in the sales channels.
Finally, the Ministry for the Environment should place the
development of agro-ecology on its agenda as a strategic factor in
fulfilling the most important mission of the Ministry, which is the
preservation of our country’s natural resources through respect for
the environmental legislation.
Organic agriculture – agro-ecology – is a great ally of the Ministry
for the Environment, so I think that this Ministry should adopt a
position like that of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry
for Agrarian Development, with agro-ecology as a strategic factor
within it, considering that agro-ecology, by its very rules, has the
direct mission of preserving the environment.
Minister Marina Silva knows that, and it is only a matter of posture
in the year 2006 in order to definitively incorporate all this
development of environmental services into agro-ecology as a
strategic instrument. |
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Planeta Orgânico:
If you had to draw a line for the growth of organic
production over the last five years, how would you see this
evolution in numbers? How do you see the growth of organic Brazil? |
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FR
– Five years ago, in Brazil, we could not say that we had 100,000
hectares of organic area. Possibly much less than that. Three years
ago, we already had an indication that Brazil had reached the
800,000 hectares mark. With this number, Brazil is now placed as a
highlight in the world scenario, considering that the biggest
country in organically cultivated area, Australia, already indicated
numbers that reached 8 million hectares. However, in the last two
years, according to the census carried out by the Ministry of
Agriculture under an agreement with the Ministry for Agrarian
Development, Brazil reached 6.5 million hectares.
This figure clearly indicates what is taking place in the country.
Those who know the interior of Brazil know that there is a certain
change going on in the agrarian and agricultural structure, and this
figure points to that fact. Brazil has today – according to the
census carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture – 12,600 rural
producers already certified; and based on these 12,600, we may
extrapolate this up to 50,000 units, because we count on some
associations and cooperatives. Brazil, with these two figures, is
now the 2nd largest in the country in organic area in the
world, overtaking Argentina, which was previously the 2nd
largest country; and this places Brazil as the object of desire of
those European investors who see that organic growth in Brazil shows
rates above the world average.
As
we know that the growth of the European organic area is around 10 to
15%, and that the participation of organic food in the totality of
these food markets does not go beyond 2% to 2.5%, and we see that
the growth rate of Brazil’s organic area is 40 to 50% and it manages
to achieve up to 1% in the participation of organic food, we see
that in 5 years Brazil has achieved much higher rates than those in
Europe, which are rates that have been recorded over the last 10
years. Therefore, Brazil has a much more favorable growth structure
than Europe or the USA. Comparatively, I think that only Asia has
the same growth potential as Brazil within the organic market.
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Planeta Orgânico:
We
will organize
an APEX Seminar during BioFach Latin America, entitled
“Opportunities for Investment in Organic Brazil”. What would you say to
an investor so that he comes to invest in this sector in Brazil? |
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FR
– I would say that he could come expecting Brazil to be a country of
opportunity, and that in these last 5 years, it reached professional
standards and definitively took on its position as a large food
producer. That Brazil has the technology to produce food in a safe,
natural and organic manner, which will attend the consumer in the
foreign market, and it is guaranteed to be a quality product with
high nutritional and biological value – a product that will give
confidence to the consumer. And that there are a huge number of
financial investment opportunities in Brazil, due even to the fact
that we still have, in this country, a stock of 90 million hectares
of land available for agricultural and agro-industrial development.
Another attractive aspect would be the question of Brazilian
agro-industry, which was unquestionably the sector that showed a
fundamental professional attitude and that underpins Brazil’s
position as a large world food exporter, not only with regard to
beef, or poultry (of which Brazil is the world’s number one
exporter) but also in the fruit sector, Brazil exports very high
quality fruit. With regard to grain, Brazil is also the world’s
largest exporter. Based on that, we see that the scenario for
opportunities is very great. Brazil not only offers opportunities
for the purchase of land but also opportunities in the
agro-industrial sector.
Several agro-industries need investments precisely to deal with the
foreign market segment. There’s not so much investment needed in the
production and processing areas. Investment is needed in the
logistics and distribution areas, which would be very attractive to
investors who operate in these market areas, be it in Europe, USA or
even in Asia. |
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Planeta Orgânico:
When you mentioned the area of Brazil in the latest
census carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, in which Brazil leapt
ahead, a lot of people wonder if this leap is exclusively due to the
extraction business. How do you see this question? |
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FR
– I think that Brazil has been developing agro-ecological technology
for many years. Agro-ecological science is the mother of organic
agriculture. In the Northern region of Brazil, where we have 5.5
million hectares using the agro-ecological management system, this
science results from a type of work which is a historical fight in
Brazil. In the State of Acre, for example, the whole of Chico
Mendes’ fight with regard to the question of the rubber extraction
business. I believe that agro-ecological production is more than
organic production. With all assurance, these areas are certified by
international entities. Therefore, when we see an entity such as the FSC certifying Brazilian wood and rubber, plants and fruit from the
Amazon region, within the requirements of the European Union rules,
we cannot doubt that this agro-ecological production area, this
product generated within this process, audited by international
entities, is not totally in conformity with the rules of organic
agriculture; and the certification of an agro-ecological project for
organic agriculture is concluded very quickly, because the
technology used is already totally within the principles of organic
agriculture. I would not question that. I would question why this
census did not expand its operations and does not detect other areas
in the North-Eastern region, for example, where we have a type of
agriculture being done, which is biodynamic. These are areas that
are not included in those 6.5 million hectares. These areas are
today being managed by a producer of the semi-arid region. They are
distant areas that are very often not significant for the foreign
market. Therefore, you do not yet have the structure of this food
chain, such as the case of this example I mention in the North-East.
These products, often coming from a natural agro-ecological and
biodynamic system in the North-East, have not been incorporated into
the food market chain. Because the logistics for this product is
more difficult, this producer needs greater support. The
agro-industrial segment is not ready in the North-Eastern region. We
have to introduce a professional attitude and give this
North-Eastern product a finish in order to achieve the same
technological standard, the quality and safety that a product from
the South and South-Eastern regions offers the foreign consumer.
I
would say that Brazil has a larger area within the agro-ecological
system than 6.5 million. It is necessary to make these data
official, to get the endorsement of the Ministry of Agriculture and
the Ministry for Agrarian Development and the participation of the
certifiers that operate in our country, so that we can safely state
correct numbers. I do not doubt that the next yearbook of FIBL, a
Swiss entity for research and promotion of organic agriculture
throughout the world, will show that Brazil has 6.5 million hectares
and certainly next year we may be publishing data showing Brazil’s
real position. And the issue of regulations putting the law into
practice will help a great deal in that respect, because the data
will have to be centralized at the Ministry so that we can be sure
of how many hectares we have and how many producers there are in the
Brazilian agro-ecological and organic system. |
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Planeta
Orgânico:
Can
we say that 2006 is the right year to invest in the Brazilian
organic sector?
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FR
– With the issue of the regulations, which represent the rules of
the game, Brazil will give confidence to new investments in the
organic food sector. In addition, with all the revolution taking
place in the country, where we have many rural producers – large,
medium and small – changing their production systems to agro-ecology
and organic agriculture, Brazil is going to be increasingly
attractive for these investments. Those who know the interior of
Brazil are noticing the transformation that has been occurring in
various regions. This transformation represents a change in the
model of producing food and offering it to the market, a fact that
is increasingly evident in the international market. There are many
possibilities for investment in the Brazilian organic food chain,
from the production of raw materials to the sale of food in various
market segments. Brazil is without doubt a large food producer and
has been consolidating its position as a quality food producer, a
fundamental factor to attend the purchasing markets. |
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