Nufarm awards actions for the sustainable development of family farming in the State of Ceará

The publication of the winning works of the 6th Nufarm Award for Awareness and Ethics in Agribusiness will take place next Friday (14/12), at the Gran Mareiro Hotel, in the capital Fortaleza. The initiative, a partnership between the Australian company Nufarm and the NGO Enactus Brasil, annually recognizes entrepreneurial ideas that encourage sustainable family agricultural production and generate income for small rural communities in the State of Ceará.

This year's edition of the awards will feature the participation of more than 250 students and will also highlight Nufarm employees involved with the projects, within the Business Advisor of the Year category. Projects named Botão Verde, Bio+, Hortus, Hidrolife, Mani and SerTão Sustentável.

All the projects competing in the final resulted in an increase in income and took health and environmental education actions to a group of farming families in Ceará who live in a situation of social vulnerability.

The students' initiatives allowed families to increase their production and income by selling vegetables and flour, for example. They also resulted in the construction of equipment that helped small farmers produce more and better, including a cassava peeling machine that works without electricity and a biodigester to produce biogas from animal manure, a substitute for cooking gas. Another innovation was the development of hydroponic systems for growing animal forage, to support the feeding of birds, sheep and goats.

Competing for the very final of the 2018 edition of the award are Faculdade Vale do Salgado, the Maracanaú unit of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of CE (IFCE), the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), the Federal University of Cariri (UFCA/ Crato) and the Vale do Acaraú State University (UVA).