At a BRICS meeting in India, Blairo defends more cooperation to guarantee global food security

When participating this Friday (23) in the Brics Ministers' Meeting (bloc formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), in New Delhi (India), Minister Blairo Maggi (Agriculture, Livestock and Supply) defended the improvement of multilateral cooperation to guarantee global food security, which involves strengthening agriculture. He also highlighted Brazilian agricultural sustainability, which has the decisive role of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in the development of technology and innovation.

According to Blairo, it is necessary to strengthen the agricultural sector to end poverty. This will also require investment in the economic development of small and medium-sized farmers and market innovation. “The world needs to recognize the importance of agriculture and farmers. Without producers, there is no food.” For him, cooperativism is one of the most promising ways to achieve this goal.

He also proposed that Brics create a monitoring group to address issues such as facilitating agricultural trade and sanitary measures, as well as other obstacles to the more efficient flow of agricultural products. “The opening of agricultural markets plays a fundamental role in food and nutritional security policies, because it expands and diversifies the food supply and guarantees the well-being of society.”
In his speech, the minister highlighted that Brics is important in the formulation of multilateral policies, especially in the agricultural area. “This economic bloc represents 42% of the world’s population and 14% of global GDP.” In Blairo's assessment, Brics needs to advance its achievements. “Without this, we will not change the lives of the citizens we represent here.”

Sustainable development

The minister also highlighted that the productive sector plays an important role in conserving biodiversity. “It is essential that development in the field is sustainable. In Brazil, we use only 8% of the territory for planting, 19,7% for livestock and 13% are reserved for Indians. Today, 61% of the country's area is still preserved. We produce 200 million tons of grains and we can double this volume, without harming the environment, thanks to technology.”

According to Blairo, Embrapa has made a great contribution to Brazilian sustainability. With the development of technology and innovation, the company promotes several initiatives, such as the recovery of degraded pastures, the expansion of direct planting areas, crop-livestock-forest integration, the adoption of hydrogen fixation techniques and waste treatment. animals.