Embrapa, 50, set the course for agriculture in Brazil – 05/11/2023 – Vaivém

What is your favorite food? The diversity of ethnic groups and cultures profoundly influenced Brazilian agriculture. The different eating habits of indigenous, Portuguese, Africans and other immigrants from various parts of the world mixed components and flavors in the country.

This means that Brazil does not have a single agriculture and livestock, but a diversity of food resulting from numerous historical processes, arising both from local traditions and from the influence of migratory currents.

The consumer now has the possibility to see the origin of the products, the initial year of domestication of these foods, the main producing countries, the volume, the production challenges and the participation of science in their genetic improvement.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Embrapa is launching the book “Brazil in 50 foods”, a publication full of curiosities that shows the timeline of these foods, adapted and cultivated with current methods and bases.

Pork, for example, has been consumed since 18,000 BC and arrived in Brazil in 1532, with Martim Afonso de Souza. The carrot, which originated in ancient Persia and was a winter product, has been adapted for other times of the year.

Rice, acclimatized in China and India, has been in use for at least 10,000 years. The apple, of origin between China and Russia, has been cultivated for 5,000 years. Science has adapted this fruit to both the intense cold of Canada and the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil.

Cassava, which originated in South America and had Brazil as the center of its distribution, gained importance in the Brazilian market in 1939, with the obligation to mix the flour of this product with that of wheat. It currently supports 700 million people and world production reaches 315 million tons.

Corn, domesticated 10,000 years ago in Mesoamerica, now Mexico, was used by the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and the Tupi and Guarani ethnic groups. Soybean, younger, had its domestication in China, 5,000 years ago.

Many of the foods originated in Brazil or the Amazon region, such as cashew, cocoa, guarana, yerba mate and pineapple. Native to the country or not, all had a productive evolution based on science, many in Embrapa’s laboratories.

The company created a system of agricultural innovation, raising productivity and bringing unimaginable products to the cerrado region, such as wheat.

The book highlights that Embrapa promoted the transformation of large areas of acidic and low fertility soils into fertile soils, the tropicalization and adaptation of plants and animals originating from various parts of the world and the development of a platform of conservationist and sustainable practices .

Coordinated by journalist Jorge Duarte, the publication is not for sale, but can be accessed for free here.

Another book that recalls Embrapa’s 50th anniversary and which should be released this Friday (12th) at Livraria Martins Fontes on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, is “Embrapa in Tropical Agriculture”.

With the editorial coordination of journalist Benê Cavechini, the publication aims to translate into simpler language the achievements of research in the sector.

The book focuses on Embrapa’s history and the role the company played in the country’s transition from importer to exporter of food. One of the founders of Embrapa, Eliseu Alves, says that the country had the challenge of equalizing production and consumption.

A demand from society, Embrapa’s work proves that effort was the main driver of innovations in agriculture over the last 50 years. The company generated technology and delivered it quickly and efficiently to the target audience, according to Cavechini.

In the period of Embrapa’s constitution, one of the concerns was to have a public company with autonomy and that would not be subject to the interests of politics.

The book also shows the main technological packages developed and the research with genetic improvement, both in plants and animals. It addresses the adaptations, for example, of soy and corn, two of the main crops in the country.

The reader will also find information on the advancement of fruit growing in the country, precision agriculture, partnerships, as well as services and systems, such as agricultural zoning for climate risk.

The last 50 years are gone, but the company’s projects also focus on future requirements. More productivity and coping with increasingly frequent climate crises, as well as preparing for the increase and arrival of new pests in the field.

In addition, adapt production to the new requirements of economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The book is edited by Metalivros, has 255 pages and costs R$ 195.

harvest Conab (Companhia Nacional do Abastecimento) readjusted the forecast for the Brazilian harvest this year to 313.9 million tons, 0.4% above the estimate in April.

Crop 2 The government agency reviewed production upwards for cotton, beans, corn and soybeans.