Former Agriculture Minister Alysson Paolinelli dies – 06/29/2023 – Market

Died this Thursday (29), at the age of 87, the former Minister of Agriculture, Alysson Paolinelli. At the head of Agriculture in a period when the country was an importer of food, Paolinelli sought national development based on three basic points for changing this scenario: science, technology and human training. He was minister from 1974 to 1979, in the government of Ernesto Geisel.

The former minister saw the need to develop an agriculture aimed at the tropical area, an evolution that worked and the country became a world reference in this type of agriculture.

In his evaluation, the country needed an agriculture focused on the tropics in the 1970s to get out of external dependence on food.

During his period in government, he implemented programs such as Embrater, Polocentro and Prodecer to, with science and technology, spread knowledge to producers, as he always claimed.

In recent years, he still actively participated in discussions on agricultural policy and always defended the need to develop a program for tropical biomes, aimed at sustainability and inclusion of the producer.

“It is necessary, however, to place science before any type of production. It will define what can be changed in the different biomes, but always with its own rules”, he said to Sheet.

Despite the advances in tropical agriculture, Paolinelli always said that there was still a lot to be done, especially for producers who were not yet participating in this agricultural revolution.

Aware of the difficulties of this evolution, he told the Sheetwhen nominated for the Nobel Prize, in 2021, that “we have problems and we have to recognize them. There are still producers in an extractive and subsistence system, whose income does not reach two thirds of a minimum wage”.

The expectation surrounding a Nobel, associated with the name of Paolinelli, is now over.

In addition to being a minister, he had an important role in Brazilian agricultural policy. Professor, Secretary of Agriculture of Minas Gerais three times, and federal deputy during the Constituent Assembly, he paved the way for Brazil to move from food dependency to the position of one of the main food exporters.

Unbeatable in coffee exports for decades, the country also added soy, sugar, orange juice, beef, chicken and, in some years, as in 2012 and 2022, to lead exports corn world.

This agricultural revolution came about based on science, technology and innovation, Paolinelli told Sheet. He created 26 Embrapa representations during his time at the Ministry of Agriculture in different regions of the country.

He defended that, with objective research, it was necessary to define the limits of the use of biomes, without degrading natural resources. In addition, use forms of management that keep these resources preserved.

Evaluating what happened to Brazilian agriculture in recent decades, the former minister stated that there is still much to be done. Tropical agriculture brought comparative advantages to the country, but progress is needed for the bioeconomy.

The former minister was executive president of Abramilho (Brazilian Association of Corn Producers). In this sector, he had a great performance for the country to reach records of cereal production today.