Decentralization of agriculture helped with food supply during the pandemic

The decentralization of Brazilian agribusiness made it possible for production to remain continuous even during the quarantine caused by the new coronavirus pandemic. The country produces grains and proteins in several regions, including in areas with low demographic intensity. With this, in addition to facing the onset of the disease with resilience, it guaranteed the supply of food on the tables of families in Brazil and abroad, demonstrating its value and capacity.   

This assessment was presented during the ABAG Webinar - Agro from End to End, organized by the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (ABAG), this Monday, June 15th. The virtual event, led by the president of the ABAG board of directors, Marcello Brito, debated the theme Agro “Dentro da Porteira”: The challenges of national agricultural production in times of pandemic.  

However, the post-pandemic scenario could be different, since the expectation is that there will be a drop in demand for food due to the serious financial crisis that has already taken hold in the world. Even so, for debaters André Guillaumon, president of BrasilAgro, Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo, president of Cooxupé and livestock farmer Carmen Perez, the perspective is that agriculture should emerge stronger from this situation.   

“Agriculture always responds. What I hope is that it doesn’t just be left behind by our sector. Furthermore, if there is an economic drive directed towards our area, we will suffer consequences, but not as significant as they could be”, said Melo, who added that in coffee a drop in the consumption of specialty coffees was noticed, due to the closure of bars, coffee shops , restaurants and hotels. Purchases in supermarkets grew initially, but then stabilized and showed a decline.   

Guillaumon stressed that unemployment is expected to increase and, consequently, there could be a significant reduction in demand. However, he recalls that there was a protein shortage at the beginning of the pandemic, due to swine flu, which decimated 40% of the world's pig herd. This resulted in an increase in Brazilian exports. “Brazilian agriculture has a very competitive production cost, which gives it a great advantage over other producing countries”, he assessed.   

For Carmen, the protein market tends to stabilize between 2023 and 2024. Furthermore, the sector works with long-term planning, so the livestock farmer has no way to reduce his herd. He’s always looking ahead,” he pondered.   

Digitalisation   

The ABAG Webinar – Agro de Ponta a Ponta brought other topics related to the pandemic, such as digitalization, which has grown in all areas of the economy, but also in social life. The three debaters agreed that agriculture has advanced almost a decade in the last three months in this respect. “Everything happened a little slower in agriculture. But today, it has changed. The producer is looking for solutions in this regard. But, the platforms will need to be integrated. As a result, there may be a reduction in the cost of incorporating these technologies and, consequently, a more accelerated adoption,” stated Guillaumon.  

In the case of coffee, Melo also highlighted that digitalization has not only increased in the purchase of inputs, but also in the sale of the product itself.