One certainty about the future of humanity is that it will continue to grow. The UN estimates that there will be 9.5 billion people on the planet by 2050. How will we feed all these people? Whatever the answer, there is another certainty: Brazil will play a crucial role in this global effort.
“The growing demand for food is inexorable, and few countries are capable of handling it. Brazil is probably in the best position to face this challenge,” said Roberto Jaguaribe, president of the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (Apex-Brasil). Jaguaribe was one of the panel members on “Feeding the World: Investment Opportunities in the Context of Industry 4.0,” held at the Brazil Investment Forum 2018 in São Paulo.
With only 7.8% of its territory occupied by agriculture, the country can greatly expand agricultural production by utilizing degraded pasture areas – and increasing productivity in currently used areas with better technologies. Another competitive advantage is the fact that Brazil holds 14% of the world’s freshwater reserves.
Brazil is a key country, for example, for the German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer, for which agribusiness is a key market. And this is not just because of the vast supply of land and water. “We have a very skilled workforce here in agriculture,” said Besaliel Botelho, the company’s president for Latin America.
Brazil’s training efforts are also expanding beyond the domestic market. “By the end of the year, we will increase the number of Brazilian agricultural attachés. Besides exporting food, the country also needs to work more closely with our trading partners to have better after-sales,” said Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi.
Source: BrazilGovNews