Starting this Thursday, May 28, twenty-two experts from countries located in the southern hemisphere will be involved in an important mobilization with the aim of accelerating the transformation of agriculture and global food systems in the face of scenarios that point to many challenges for the future of the planet.
For 18 months, scientists and decision makers will form the new Commission for the Intensification of Sustainable Agriculture (CoSAI), initiated by the Research Program of the CGIAR network (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), responsible for coordinating international agricultural research programs, for reducing poverty and ensuring food security in developing countries. The result of CoSai's work will guide investments in agricultural innovation that combine food and sustainability.
Among the members of the commission, the former president of Embrapa, researcher Maurício Lopes, is the only Brazilian in the group, whose members were chosen for their work in research, innovation and improvement of policies and programs aimed at innovation in agriculture and food in the Hemisphere South. “With more than thirty years of experience in innovation for tropical agriculture, I believe I can contribute and also learn a lot,” he says.
In his opinion, sustainable intensification is a concept that will gain more and more notoriety, given the growth of the world's population, which is more urbanized and demanding, on a planet with finite natural resources. “There will be a need for more and better food to respond to demand in quantity and quality”, he adds. “And Embrapa and Brazil have a lot to contribute to this concept being consolidated in the future.”
Regarding the contributions that Brazilian agricultural research could bring to CoSAI, the researcher highlights that, even having achieved a high level of food security and surplus production capacity, Brazil will need to expand its capacity to provide food in greater quantity, diversity and quality standard. “To achieve this, technological sophistication will be necessary to increase efficiency in the production and use of natural resources,” he states.
Maurício Lopes says that Brazil -, with Embrapa and partners -, has stood out in its ability to promote the sustainable expansion of agricultural production and cites, as examples, unprecedented advances such as the ABC Plan - Low Carbon Emission Agriculture, a public policy which promotes the recovery of degraded pastures; crop-livestock-forest integration (ILPF); the direct planting system (SPD); biological nitrogen fixation (BNF); planted forests and the treatment of animal waste.
“For this reason, the potential for sustainable intensification of Brazilian agriculture draws the world's attention, which guarantees the use of agricultural areas, safely, 365 days a year, producing grains, animal protein, fibers and bioenergy in the same space, without compromising the part of its territory with preserved vegetation cover”, he adds. The researcher also highlights the advances in the Brazilian Forest Code, a public policy that guarantees protection of native forests and water resources on rural properties in the country.
The Commission's focus will be to promote innovation that leads to transformative changes in agriculture and food systems. According to Maurício Lopes, 'Innovation' for CoSAI includes formal R&D, as well as technical, political and institutional innovations that mobilize and grant autonomy to the various actors in the food system, from farmers to public and private sector agents. Through public consultation processes, CoSAI will address critical issues such as the availability of public and private funds needed to advance an innovation agenda for sustainability in agriculture and food systems.
According to the president of CoSAI, Ruben Echeverría, the 22 commissioners from Africa, Asia and Latin America will collaborate with suggestions for implementing actions that contribute to overcoming challenges in the Southern Hemisphere. “They are in a unique position to bring to light to the development and adoption of innovations that can help meet our food needs, while regenerating the natural environment", he comments.
The director of CGIAR Research programs on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), Izabella Koziel, highlights that this is an alert time. “We are in the midst of an unprecedented global public health crisis, which risks turning into a food and nutrition crisis for millions of families and small farmers,” she says. “It is time to address the shortcomings of our food systems and reverse the impacts of agriculture on ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. This requires innovation – in policies, institutions and financial instruments, as well as in science and technology.”
CoSAI commissioners will follow an open consultation process, which will involve input from farmer organizations to policymakers, researchers and civil society, to share solutions and debate practical aspects of implementing sustainable agricultural intensification. The commission is also responsible for commissioning studies related to areas in which there is a need for complementation, such as, for example, investment flows that support agricultural innovation in the Southern Hemisphere, where many production and food security problems are concentrated.
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