"Brazilian agriculture consists of 5.1 million rural properties. Of these, 80% are smallholders and, more importantly, 77% are family-owned. These rural properties are very aware of sustainability because our Forest Code requires the legal reservation and restoration of forests within each property. Depending on the region or Brazilian biome. To give an example, some properties have to preserve 80 per cent of their entire property without changing the landscape".
Felipe Spaniol, Trade Intelligence and Interest Defence Coordinator of the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA), spoke with AGRICOLAE during the conference held at the Brazilian Embassy in Italy dedicated to agricultural sustainability in Brazil and organised by Brazil Agri-Food Facts.
"There are several environmental programmes of the Brazilian government. One example is the ABC or low carbon agriculture programme, running since 2010, with several initiatives such as direct planting, the development of plants that can fix nitrogen in the soil, but also the integration of livestock, forest and agriculture.
This programme has reduced emissions by 196 million tonnes of CO2 in this first decade and now the government has launched the second edition, the ABC Plus programme, to increase and even evolve these achievements for greater sustainability. These are good examples of how Brazilian agriculture is well preserved and focused on protecting the environment while increasing our productivity,' Spaniol continues.
"Brazil has gone from being a food importing country to being the number one net food exporter in the world. According to FAO studies, Brazil's productivity means that food reaches 800 million people around the world and there is still much to be done in cooperation with Europe, but also with Italy.
We believe in a cooperative system, where a large company or a union of companies can make them access new technological machinery, purchase raw materials or products they need collectively, and the models Italy already has in place are good examples of how we can work together to increase productivity even more.
Furthermore, I would like to add that the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union is really important. The assumptions, from 2019 to today, have changed, but it is an important tool to promote even more trade and cooperation between South American and EU countries", the Brazilian executive concludes.