Hello! I'm Rodrigo Santos, leader of Monsanto for South America. Before I start talking about how we've been working to help fight hunger in the world, I'd like to thank Itau by invitation and CEBDS through space. The search for sustainable results is a collective effort and I am happy that we have so many partners on this #ParaUmMundoBetter journey.
In our case, a long journey. Have you ever stopped to think about the time, energy, water and other resources needed to produce everything we eat every day? Yeah, now multiply all that by the amount of food consumed in the world daily. This is the challenge that farmers face every day and Monsanto has the role of helping them in this great mission. If we think that in 2050 the world will have around 9.6 billion people, according to UN estimates, this challenge becomes even greater. In other words, if we want to continue producing food for the entire population while preserving our resources, we only have one path to follow: developing technologies that allow for more productivity in the same area of cultivation and combating food waste as much as possible. And that's why Monsanto is proud to contribute, every day, to the SDG 2: Zero Hunger and Sustainable Agriculture.
In addition to working daily on technologies that help producers produce more using fewer resources, we have also developed projects that help fight hunger around the world. Here in Brazil, our highlight is Crescer Saudável, which takes place in Petrolina and where we have a research station. Through Monsanto fund, an institute linked to Monsanto and focused on social development, we are investing in the region to combat child malnutrition. Today, Crescer Saudável is bringing food to public schools, in addition to providing nutrition education for parents, health agents and teachers, vegetable gardens in schools and much more. By the end of the project, US$3 million dollars will be invested to combat hunger and malnutrition in Petrolina. To know a little more about this initiative, we have a video which shows how the impact has been positive in the community.
In South America, “Semeadores do Futuro” does a similar job, directing resources to NGOs and organizations that work to combat child malnutrition. The project has been running for 10 years now, selecting institutions that, from then on, can count on our investment and partnership to sow the future and contribute to making hunger a problem that is increasingly distant from our reality. Today, “Semeadores” includes organizations from all over Latin America.
Projects such as Cozinha Consciente, which uploaded videos on how to avoid food waste to Facebook, are also part of this effort and join many others highlighted in our Annual Report on Social and Environmental Actions in South America. But I am happy to realize, in this brief summary, that our work, when combined with that of hundreds of companies, producers, institutions and public bodies, can help change the world for the better. We are working to cultivate a world without hunger, with as much technology and as little impact as possible. Many thanks to everyone who is part of this story.
And speaking of being a part, I invite the mining company Anglo American to also share a success story, to tell us about how they have been working in line with the #ODS. To the next!
