Today, World Food Day (October 16), FoodTech Hub Br organized an online seminar to discuss how food systems can be more sustainable. The event had three focuses: environmental, social and economic sustainability. The first panel, which was attended by the president of CEBDS, Marina Grossi, discussed “Food security and a generation without hunger”. The opening was led by Paulo Silveira, from FoodTech Hub. Also participating were Fernando Camargo Silveira, Secretary of Innovation, Rural Development and Innovation, from the Ministry of Agriculture; Lígia Dutra, superintendent of International Relations at CNA; Rodrigo Santos, president of the Crop Science division for Latin America at Bayer; and Daniel Balaban, director in Brazil of the UN's World Food Programme, a project that won the Nobel Peace Prize last week.
“The carbon market could be the new pre-salt”, argued Marina Grossi. “The opportunity that this market can bring to the food chain is fundamental. We have many challenges in Brazil, but challenges are opportunities for change: 10 million people going hungry, which could reach 14 million with the pandemic, which would put us back on the world hunger map; huge food waste; inadequate nutrition. If Brazil manages to equalize these issues, it will show its enormous potential. We can combine preservation and production”, explained the president of CEBDS.
According to Marina, the country has the great distinction of having one of the greatest biodiversity in the world. With biotechnology brought to food, Brazil will be able to prove itself as a provider of solutions.
“Thanks to the action of the business sector and the participation of science and society, changes have been occurring. Fighting waste, fighting emissions, low-carbon technology, regenerative agriculture are leading Brazil to follow a new path”, he said.
Rodrigo Santos, from Bayer, explained why science and technology are the solutions for Brazil to remain the major protagonist in the production of sustainable and nutritious food in the world:
“Brazil needs to connect with the world. We are talking about the union of different sectors so that the country increasingly occupies the space of a large sustainable producer. We already feed more than 1.2 billion people in the world with what we produce here. But there is the great challenge of doing this in a sustainable way, preserving natural resources, mitigating climate change. To achieve this, Brazil will have to form strategic alliances between private initiatives, the public sector and non-governmental organizations. There is no way to ensure sustainable and nutritious food without strategic partnerships. The agriculture 4.0 revolution will be the great lever for growth in productivity and production of natural resources”, he guaranteed.
