Agribusiness: being sustainable has never been so necessary

Brazil is about to offer to the world an agricultural production certification system. The news was given by Roberto Smeraldi, who runs the non-profit organization Friends of the Earth – Brazilian Amazon, during the panel “Sustainable Management of the Agribusiness”, held at the Ethos Institute 2008 International Conference.
Smeraldi is a member of the group in charge of the initiative, which also comprises representatives of various areas of the society, including business associations and union organizations such as the Social Observatory of CUT (Unified Workers Confederation). “Brazil is able to develop this system, which is capable of accrediting while acknowledging the diversity of cultures and soil uses,” he explains.
Due to its dimension and agricultural vocation, Brazil is a major player in the fiercest game in the moment: the biofuels’ one. Never have the world’s circumstances presented such urgent issues to agribusiness. From the food supply crisis to the search for new energy standards, due to the high oil prices, the moment demands a strong and sustainable position on the part of those involved in agricultural production.
This is the current situation described by Reginaldo Sales Magalhães, civil society specialist and Brazil’s representative at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), who chaired the debate. On one side there were representatives of the state-of-the-art agriculture (sugarcane and soybeans); on the other side, critics of the way the search for productivity increase has been made in very large farms (latifúndios).
With the need to start replacing oil with alternatives that emit less GHG – responsible for global warming – the demand for ethanol has grown. There is a doubt as to whether farmers would be allocating food growing areas to sugarcane crops in order to meet the growing market demand. Eduardo Leão de Souza assures they are not. He is the executive director of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (Unica), which gathers 110 sugar plants in the State of São Paulo, responsible for 60% of all the sugar and ethanol produced in Brazil.
Souza defended the efficiency of sugarcane ethanol from the environmental impact perspective. This fuel reduces CO2 emission by almost 90% as compared to oil byproducts, against the 35% reduction achieved by its corn counterpart.
The director of Unica also believes the advance of the sugarcane culture is not very likely to impact on food production. To support his argument, Souza cited data of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which estimates in 1.4 billion hectares the area used in the world to produce food. “According to FAO, only 1% of this total area is being used to produce ethanol,” he said. He added data of the national reality: “In Brazil, 1% of the arable land with sugarcane crops that turn into ethanol replaces over 50% of the gasoline used in the country.”
Unica believes the biofuels are a historical opportunity for nearly 100 developing countries. “This is an important energy democratization process,” says Eduardo Souza.

The workers’ voice
Conversely, the president of the São Paulo Federation of Rural Workers (Feraesp), Elio Neves, states that the discussion must address social issues. “The agenda must include decent work, respect for human rights in rural areas, and criticism made abroad against the Brazilian agribusiness,” he says.
Neves brings up a key point: the world does not bear this development model focused on strengthening individual transportation. “It doesn’t matter if the car is gasoline or biodiesel-powered. There must be a regulation to democratize it,” he says.
Themes such as land reform, ecological zoning and soybeans moratorium were also discussed in the panel. Ocimar Villela, Environment & Occupational Manager at the Amaggi Group, one of the main soybeans producers in the country, reminded the participants that most land conflicts occur in vacant lands: “The family leaves the South and goes to the legal Amazon vacant lands hoping to get a piece of land. They settle there, on the deforestation frontier, where 85% of the land belongs to the government. A lawless region.”
According to Villela, zoning is the perfect solution for these conflicts. As for the soybeans moratorium, he agrees there has been European pressure on it, since 60% of the product is exported. But he argues: “There is no cattle raising moratorium because 80% of the meat is sold in the domestic market. We have to discuss the migration of 1.2 million head of cattle from São Paulo to the Amazon. Is it necessary to deforest? No. Just occupy the vacant lands.”
Smeraldi, director of Friends of the Earth, provokes Villela: “The soybeans moratorium was successful because it happened in a low-price moment, favorable to a downturn,” he explains. In his opinion, the challenge now is to reinforce it and keep it in this new trend of rising prices.

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