IPS-English BRAZIL: Leading Agroscience Has Few Links to Small Farmers Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 16:00:35 -0700 Mario Osava* - Tierramérica RIO DE JANEIRO, May 19 (IPS) - Brazil has the most advanced agricultural science and technology system of the world's tropical countries, with an array of environmental and high-production solutions, but which rarely reach their intended target: the small farmer. That is the bottleneck, admits Alfredo Barreto Luiz, a researcher who has served in various high-level posts at Brazil's national agricultural research agency, Embrapa, a network of 38 research centres and three outreach centres scattered across the country. Embrapa was created 35 years ago in conjunction with another government agency for rural extension services, which was dismantled in 1990 without its tasks being adopted by any other government body. ”The circle was broken,” Barreto told Tierramérica: the circle that begins with the demands of the farmer, then becomes research at Embrapa, and is supposed to return to the farmer, with answers. One example is the process of sustainable goat farming developed by the Embrapa centre dedicated to the semi-arid ecosystem of Brazil's poorest region, the Northeast. The participating small farmers are raising goats for meat through more efficient food management, sanitation and reproductive techniques, explained veterinarian Daniel Maia, one of the project's coordinators. The approach has been proven on two farms but has not been extended due to a lack of funds, he told Tierramérica. Goats are a good livestock choice for the Northeast, where there are 9.6 million head, and could be an important source of income for small farmers because the animals can be slaughtered for their meat at just seven months old. Beef cattle require more time to grow, more land and more money, which puts them beyond the reach of poorer farmers, said Maia. He proposes crossing native breeds of goats with more productive, exotic breeds, in groups and on a schedule in order to have animals of the same age. This would allow better control as the goats mature, and would improve marketing. Local forage crops can be stored to ensure feed for the goats during the drier summer season, and would provide enough for two goats per hectare -- more than double the normal rate. In an effort to produce organic meat, the approach focuses on hygienic care and natural medicines, based on local plants with proven effectiveness. Non-organic or synthetic medications are used only as a last resort, said Maia. OFFSPRING OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION Embrapa, which employed 2,294 researchers and 6,338 assistants in late 2007, was originally founded to promote the ”green revolution” and boost productivity with fully economic ends, and it was efficient at that, according to Tatiana Sá, a member of the executive board who has worked with the institution since 1974. Nearly all the researchers were agronomists until the 1990s, when the staff was diversified to include geologists, cartographers, statisticians and experts from many other areas of expertise that had been scarce in Brazil. The agency was thus able to respond to new challenges of developing environmentally sustainable techniques and to the growing demands for autonomy, agrarian reform and local control, said Sá. As part of that process, new research and service units were also created, in the areas of environment, agro-biology and agro-energy. Embrapa was decisive in ”adding science and security to tropical agriculture,” although Brazil has the ”privilege” of a wide range of ecosystems and climates, she said. Latin America's giant has overcome its ”technical inferiority,” as a receiver of technologies from the industrialised world, and become part of two-way international cooperation, setting up virtual laboratories that serve as ”antennae” in Europe and the United States to coordinate groups and connect to ”new agendas,” said Sá. South-South cooperation is a more recent development, and has begun with an office in Africa. One of Embrapa's lines of research is to reduce agricultural inputs, such as costly fertilisers (mostly imported), for both economic and environmental reasons. A boost to Brazil's agricultural competitiveness, which also saved billions of dollars in petroleum-based fertilisers, was an innovation that allowed nitrogen fixation by soybean plants, accentuated by inoculating plant bacteria. Embrapa develops and transfers technology free of charge to organised groups of farmers, cooperatives, rural unions and local governments, among others. Its activities are financed by the national budget, and sometimes also by revenues from patents and services. Faced with the challenge of climate change, Embrapa is acting along three main lines: fighting vulnerability, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and adapting to the new conditions. With its varied climates, Brazil has crop species that are resistant to the extremes of drought and excessive moisture. KEY TO PRODUCTIVITY ”The biggest environmental contribution” that science and technology can make to farming ”is an increase in productivity,” said Barreto. By using less land and fewer inputs, less pollution is created. If Brazil had not achieved the productivity levels it did in the last 30 years, the deforested area of the country would be that much greater, he argued. But there are also problems. Farm production has been based excessively on agro-chemicals, stimulated by cheap oil prices in the past. ”The green revolution took place subsidised by the low cost of fossil fuels,” admitted Barreto. Furthermore, there are enormous inequalities: ”farms that are champions of productivity, producing 16,000 kg of maize per hectare, compared to an average of some 3,000 kg,” while others produce much less, he said. Many farmers are not aware of the available technologies or information on soil, adapted seeds or how to fight pests, while others cannot afford to use them. That is why widespread technical assistance is vital to Brazilian farming, said Barreto. The development and transfer of technologies to small farmers have to be government-run efforts, because the private sector is focused on profits, he said. ”As the country that best understands tropical agriculture, Brazil has the advantage of developing it with less dependence on petroleum,” said Barreto. One practice that is spreading across the country is to leave plant waste from prior harvests in the soil, which helps store water and organic material, and takes advantage of the nitrogen and carbon in the residues, reducing the need for additional fertilisers, he explained. The resultant heat and humidity generate ”intense microbial activity” in the soil, he added. Without the short-term economic pressures, farming would be ecological, because ”natural resources represent a vital necessity,” according to Barreto. More recently, Embrapa has adopted initiatives leading towards ”a science more in harmony with the environment,” but they are still ”marginal” and the intensive use of inputs, oil and energy remain dominant, said Luciano Silveira, one of the coordinators of the non-governmental Articulação do Semi-Árido (ASA). ASA is a network of more than 700 civil society groups and movements of the Northeast that works with the local population to disseminate technologies for farming in the semi-arid region. Its activities have included the construction of one million rainwater collection tanks, the building of small underground dams (and other forms of storing water for drinking and irrigation), and the creation of community seed banks. The network has won recognition for its success in bringing together the environment and social development, with community participation. (*Originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.) ***** + Tierramérica (http://www.tierramerica.info/index_en.php) + Embrapa (http://www.embrapa.br/) + ASA (http://www.asabrasil.org.br) + International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (http://www.agassessment.org/) + CUBA: ‘Green' Farming Techniques to Boost Production (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42347) + TRADE: Doha Talks Sweating Over Tropical Products (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42336) + BRAZIL: Sugarcane Alcohol Tarnished by U.S. Maize Ethanol (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42312) (END/IPS/LA/DV SC IA SU IB/TRASP-LD/MO/TA/08) = 05191910 ORP010 NNNN