Innovation is the main way to ensure food availability in a scenario that predicts population growth of 26% by 2050. This is the conclusion reached by the leader of Bayer's Crop Science division, Gerhard Bohne, who pointed to the integration between the links in the food chain as the main challenge to ensure sufficient supplies to feed the world's population. Bohne emphasizes that the sector has been working in recent years to develop technologies that guarantee greater productivity aligned with more sustainable production.
“Innovation is essential for the food system. We must increasingly develop customized solutions to ensure that we will be able to feed almost 10 billion people in 2050. To do this, we need to harmonize production, distribution and consumption,” he emphasizes.
Bohne participated this Thursday (27/06) in the Resilient Food Workshop, promoted by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) that brought together actors from various links in the food chain in the country. The workshop is part of the Agroclimatic Intelligence (IAC) program, which aims to increase food availability by 50%, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.
The agribusiness chain is currently the largest emitter of GHGs and at the same time the activity most susceptible to climate change. CEBDS's Director of Institutional Development, Ana Carolina Szklo, warns that climate change is an unprecedented challenge, especially for a sector so closely linked to the climate.
“Today, 40% of the land used in the world is used for agribusiness. This is equivalent to 30% of global emissions and 70% of water consumption. We urgently need to make the chain more resilient. Our future depends on the ability to create food systems to guarantee the nutrition of the population”, he states.
Climate change not only affects production capacity, but, according to the Director of Communication and Government Relations at DSM Latam, Zenaide Guerra, it is causing nutritional damage to food. For Zenaide, waste needs to be tackled urgently.
“Of food production intended for human consumption, around 30% is wasted. This accounts for 8% of greenhouse gases and 20% of water used in agriculture. Waste is real and causes serious harm to human beings. We have to be able to understand the local cultures of each country and fortify the basic foods of these diets”, he believes.
Understanding the impact of the chain is one of the ways to make it more resilient. “The climate change process involves a major discussion about access to information. Armed with data, consumers will be able to make more sustainable choices,” says Juliana Lopes, sustainability director at Amaggi.
Another approach is the application of disruptive technologies, such as integrated crop, livestock and forestry (ILPF). This method, which provides for integrated production, increases production per hectare while reducing emissions. The application of this technique faces several barriers: technical assistance and access to credit.
Renato Rodrigues, president of the ILPF network, highlights that, in Brazil, the areas using ILPF techniques jumped from two million hectares in 2005 to 15 million in 2018. The expectation is that, by 2030, 35 million of hectares are applying the technology.
“ILPF is a complete technology. Through it we were able to achieve the goals of the low carbon agriculture plan (ABC) ahead of schedule. It is a set of techniques that allows to increase production, guaranteeing the sustainability of agribusiness”.
