São Paulo – The Association of Brazilian Beef Exporters (Abiec) will promote a campaign to improve the image of Brazilian animal husbandry overseas, dissociating it from the deforesting of the Amazonian forest, for instance. The goal is to prevent a negative image of Brazilian animal farming from creating obstacles to trade with other countries.
“Meat consumption is growing in Brazil. In developing countries, the people have more money available now, and they are buying more beef,” says Fernando Sampaio, managing director and coordinator of Sustainability at Abiec. “Still, European growers are insisting that Brazil does not respect the environment. We must work that image so that it does not eventually become a barrier to trade,” he explains.
Sampaio claims that the Abiec, in partnership with the University of São Paulo (USP) in the city of Ribeirão Preto, is collecting positive information about cattle farming in Brazil. “We are mapping out all areas of livestock farming and putting together an overview: how much it generates in terms of GDP, employment, exports. Not only beef, but also inputs, vaccines, mineral salts, by-products such as leather and fat,” he reveals. The association is also researching positive cases of companies in the industry to integrate the campaign. “The intention is to do away with the idea that cattle growers are deforesters.”
Once the data has been collected, which should be around November this year, the association will the work to disseminate the information, at events such as international fairs and also by publishing articles in the foreign press.
“In October, the leading European food fair, Anuga, will take place in Germany. We are going to take the information so people can understand it, display the cases on a screen,” he says. “By the time Gulfood (the leading food industry fair in the Middle East, held in Dubai), takes place, in February, we will be better prepared. We will be able to do an even better job,” says Sampaio.
“The idea is to take the information with us to each and every event abroad,” reveals the Abiec director. “In addition to beef, we need to sell a clear conscience, to let it be known that we are monitoring our suppliers,” he claims. “We will also work hard to generate good news in the media. We will promote a large event to announce these data,” says Sampaio.
The campaign will show information such as, for instance, the fact that Brazilian cattle farming is growing while the grazing area in the country is decreasing. According to figures of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), from 1950 to 2006, productivity gains, the results of the modernization of cattle farming, have accounted for 79% of the increase in Brazilian cattle production.
According to the study, these gains have enabled 525 million hectares of land to go unused. From 1996 to 2006, Brazilian animal husbandry recorded its highest average annual rate of productivity gain, at 6.6%.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
