A member of the CNA Youth Program’s fourth edition, Quésia Sá Pavão, from Pará state, represented Brazil in the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), broadcast from Berlin, Germany, at the end of January.
At the event, Quésia presented the statement: “Change of Food Systems: A global response to multiple crises,” along with 20 young leaders from countries around the world, including Mexico, Zimbabwe, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Uganda, India, China, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, and the United States.
The document includes proposals for three major questions: 1. How to make food systems more resilient in the face of global crises? 2. How can we make food systems more climate-friendly while preserving biodiversity? and 3. How to increase global collaboration about our food systems?
The answers to these questions are crucial to solving a global issue and represent a challenge. “In total, there were 20 young people. All committed to finding an answer on how to develop crisis-proof systems, how to create climate-friendly food while preserving biodiversity, and how to improve global collaboration on our food systems,” says Quésia.
The young Brazilian is an agronomist with a master’s degree in Tropical Agriculture and a doctoral candidate in Management and Conservation of Environmental Resources at the Federal Rural University of the Amazon (UFRA). By taking part in the Global Forum, Quésia says she realized the importance of the connection between people.
“Food brings us together. This thread needs to be maintained and for this, we need to change the food systems that are not aligned with sustainability. I see that Brazil is aware of global intentions and ready to collaborate. I think we need to bring more knowledge to all local food systems and thus strengthen our agriculture,” she says.
The young farmers’ statement was delivered to representatives of the German Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday (21), during the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture at the GFFA.
In the new leadership development program, Quésia was in the group with an institutional focus and, as an individual, had the challenge to raise awareness of those involved in the açaí productive chain related to the destination of the açaí seeds to ensure its processing and use in other products.
Quésia Pavão had the support of the CNA/SENAR System throughout the CNA Youth program’s fourth edition, which contributed to training new leaders with the development of new skills and competencies.