SAI Platform Brazil Committee Workshop & Meeting
5th October 2016
September 2016, Paraná, Brazil
The first SAI Platform Brazil Committee Workshop & Meeting took place in mid-September. The event was kinldly hosted by Cooperativa Agrária Agroindustrial in the state of Paraná.
Although remote, Paraná was a great place to hold the first event as Agrária’s Sustainable programme is well advanced and provided a good practices and showcase for the Committee’s members.
With the help of BSD consulting, the Committee has mapped out the main existing initiatives and stakeholders relating to sustainable agriculture in Brazil. (Full report in Portuguese or summary in ENG/Portuguese is available to SAI Platform members upon request). The objectives of this study was to identify at this initial stage, where the gaps are, the type of projects needed, objectives of the Committee and with whom it could eventually align. As an additional part of this study, the Committee also looked at key challenges in Brazil and defined the areas it should focus on which will be developed into a robust workplan for the future.
All members reconfirmed the added value that the SAI Platform Brazil Committee can bring to the food & beverage sector in Brazil. Furthermore, there was an agreement that such powerful collaboration in a safe pre-competitive environment focusing on Brazil is necessary.
Fabio Oliveira (Firmenich) and Murilo Quintiliano (FAI Farms), were appointed as facilitators of the Brazil Committee.
These are few of the key decisions that were taken during the meeting:
- Key issues, initiatives and challenges for Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil – five main critical issues were identified by the BSD pre mapping study. Amongst them is mitigating climate change risks, improving working conditions and traceability and transparency of the supply chain with a focus on use of chemicals. Each member will share insights and practices for each of the key chosen topics during the next event.
- Each member to implement the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) tool with at least 5 suppliers/farmers
- Setting up an online knowledge sharing tool to work during the year
- Modus Operandi;The Brazil Committee will work under the umbrella of the global SAI Platform (adhering to its bylaws and working under its governance).
The Brazil Committee is a great way for SAI Platform members who operate in Brazil to benefit from SAI Platform global work, activities and vision as well as focussing on sustainable agriculture issues and opportunities that are unique to Brazil.
The next meeting of the Committee will take place in February 2017 in Jaboticabal (SP).
For more information on the Brazil Committee, please contact Yael Fattal.
The development of the Brazil Committee could not have been done without the important work of Olivier Marchand (Nestlé), Nayara Kaminski de Oliveira and Caue Mohler (Agrária) and SAI Platform would like to thank them for their great contribution.
