São Paulo – The minister of Agriculture of Brazil, Reinhold Stephanes, proposed to his Sudanese colleague, Al-Zubair Taha, the promotion of a Brazilian market prospecting mission to African. The ministers met yesterday (03), in Brasília, for the signing of another protocol of understanding in the area of vegetable health and other phytosanitary matters.
The idea behind the mission is to take businessmen, investors, and technicians of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) to get to know better the potentialities of Sudan. This is not the first time that the minister talks about promoting a mission to the Arab country. Last year, when other authorities of the Sudanese government visited Brazil, such as the minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries, Ismail Khamis Jallab, Stephanes also showed interest in organising a mission of the agricultural sector.
During the meeting, the Brazilian minister stated that Sudan deserves a mission from Brazil due to the geographic potential of the country, which has approximately 52 million hectares of farmable land, of which only 25% are in use. The Sudanese minister invited Stephanes to participate, on the 29th this month, in the inauguration of the first ethanol plant in Sudan, which is going to produce 61 million litres of alcohol a year.
Taha stated that the agreement that was signed yesterday was not the first, but that it marked the beginning of a very important relation with Brazil. According to information from the press office of the Brazilian ministry, the protocol provides for greater cooperation and bilateral communication in the area of sanitary safety for products of vegetable origin. It also includes measures for avoiding the spread of plagues; training in the field of human resources in sanitary safety; promotion of workgroups; exchange of technicians and researchers; and information exchange.
Taha gave an overview of Sudan to the Brazilian minister, talking about the potential of the country in production of oil, sugarcane, and other agricultural products.
The minister of Sudan also said that his country is capable of exporting phosphate to Brazil, a raw material used in fertiliser manufacturing. Furthermore, the Sudanese delegation is interested in learning more about agricultural technologies that are applied in Brazil and that may be adapted for the development of the Sudanese savannah. The country is encouraging local production for supplying the domestic market.
This Wednesday, the delegation is going to visit Dedini, one of the main heavy industries in Brazil, with know-how in technology for sugarcane plants and distilleries, located in the city of Piracicaba, in the interior of the state of São Paulo. The Brazilian factory was the one that supplied equipment and machinery for the Sudanese ethanol plant. On Friday, the delegation should visit the head offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo.
*Translated by Mark Ament and Gabriel Pomerancblum
