Representatives from 20 embassies in Brazil attended the “DAB & CNA Dialogue” on Tuesday, April 16. The event was organized by the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) to show the institutional work of the CNA/SENAR System.
Agricultural attachés from the Diplomats of Agriculture in Brazil (DAB) group were allowed to learn about the entity’s history and organizational structure, as well as get an overview of the Brazilian agriculture sector.
CNA’s Vice-President, Mario Borba, attended the meeting and highlighted the significance of the event so that other countries can learn about Brazil’s important role in feeding the world and “become aware of what CNA does as an entity not only for the producer but also for job creation, income, and development.”
CNA’s Technical Director, Bruno Lucchi, presented the relevance of Brazilian agricultural production and its contribution to food security. Lucchi talked about the growth of Brazilian agricultural production in recent decades with the technologies integrated into rural properties and the advances in environmental legislation.
“We showed the evolution of the sector and the pillars we built that turned Brazil into a power in tropical agriculture,” he emphasized. The director also listed some challenges for the sector, such as logistics and infrastructure issues in the production flow, fertilizers’ high costs, and land regularization.
CNA’s Director of International Relations, Sueme Mori, talked about international food trade and food safety. “Brazilian production is very diverse but our export agenda is focused on a few products. One of our tasks is to expand and diversify the supply of food produced by small and medium farmers,” she explained, mentioning CNA’s AgroBrazil program and Agro.BR project.
Mori also spoke about the significance of international trade in ensuring food security, providing food primarily to countries located in unstable regions in geopolitical terms and those that depend heavily on imports. She also highlighted Brazil’s role in sustainability within the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) concept.
Representatives from the embassies of Australia, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Myanmar, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United States, and Uruguay took part in the meeting.
The Agricultural Advisor at the Chilean Embassy in Brazil, Ricardo Moyan, believes the meeting was very positive. “Many countries are represented here, which means that we are on the right track on the issues that we have to address to change this sector so that it continues to be the driver of the economy,” he said.