Brazil among countries that most reduce agribusiness environmental impact

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil is among the countries that most reduce greenhouse gas emissions during agricultural production, from planting to harvesting.

That is the conclusion of a study released on Thursday, June 9, by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), based on the projection of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The report analyzed Brazil’s position in different sustainability indicators against seven major agro-exporters: Argentina, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, and the United States.

Ipea’s survey shows that Brazilian agribusiness produces 2.1% more inputs generating the same volume of emissions as ten years ago. In practice, the study points out that, with the current technology, “producing 1kg of food in Brazil generates less emissions than in the past.

Compared to the productive capacity of agriculture per unit of greenhouse gas emissions, Brazil is second only to Argentina in the indicator between 1990 and 2020.

In this period, Brazil reduced its need to emit these gases by 2.1%, while this reduction reached 3.1% in the neighboring country. Germany and India are nations that also figure in the first positions, according to Ipea.

“The world population has increased over the years and the demand for food has also grown. Consequently, in a logical way, it is necessary to expand the use of land for agriculture. If we used the technology of the past, we would have to clear a much larger area of forests than we are doing today. This shows the importance of adopting state-of-the-art technology,” explains José Eustáquio Ribeiro Vieira Filho, a researcher at Ipea.

The so-called forest-saving effect was another indicator used to compare the ability of countries to reduce the environmental impact of agricultural production. The index points to the amount of land the country can save through technological and technical changes, maintaining or increasing food production.

According to Ipea’s data, Brazil leads the ranking of the compared countries in this regard. In 2020, the index for the Brazilian national territory was 43.2%. Next comes India, with 34.5%.

However, in Ipea’s evaluation, India’s performance was associated exclusively with agricultural production, while Brazil’s is explained by gains in productivity in agriculture and livestock.

The ranking of countries according to the forest-saving index:

1. Brazil (43.2%)
2. India (34.5%)
3. Argentina (13.8%)
4. United States (8.9%)
5. Canada (2.5%)
6. France (2.5%)
7. China (1,6%)
8. Germany (1.4%)

RECORD HARVEST

Data from the 9th Grain Crop Survey of the National Supply Company (Conab), released on Wednesday, June 8, show that the 2022 crop is expected to set a record, estimated at 271.28 million tons.

In 2020, the country had its biggest grain harvest to date, with 257 million tons, according to data from Ipea. In 2021, production was slightly lower than the previous year, with 255.5 million tons.

According to Ipea’s technical note, Brazil suffers a greater impact from food inflation than the rest of the world. While in the global harvest, inflation was 5.5% between 2020 and 2021; in Brazil, this figure doubled.

According to the report, the pressure on prices is due to “adverse shocks”, such as the reopening of economies after the pandemic, high oil and energy prices, war in Ukraine, and a shortage of inputs from China.

With information from CNN