Brazil to have a national programme for healthy food production

Brazil's Ministry of Agrarian Development will launch a national programme in May to stimulate healthy food production. According to Fernanda Machiaveli, executive secretary of the ministry, this policy is to be announced along with the presentation of this year's Harvest Plan.

"The programme will aim to stimulate the production of healthy foods that come from family farms that are produced without the use of harmful substances," said Machiavelli in an interview with Agência Brasil during a seminar at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro. She also called for the development of agroecology, a concept that involves the production of healthy food taking into account environmental, social and cultural aspects.

According to the executive secretary, one of the areas of the programme will be to oppose the use of pesticides. The federal government is reshaping the national policy of the sector. Last week, for example, a working group was set up to reconstitute the National Commission for Agroecology and Organic Production.

"This technical working group, which includes government and civil society representatives, has up to 45 days to put forward a proposal to re-establish this new commission. In the meantime, we are already proposing to discuss issues that have not been addressed in the last six years," explained the commission's executive secretary Silvio Brasil.

Another structure that is in the process of being reconstituted is the inter-ministerial committee on agro-ecology, which will hold its first meeting this week. President of the National Supply Company (Conab) Silvio Porto explained that the Food Acquisition Programme (in Portuguese: PAA), recently re-launched by the federal government, should also encourage healthy food production using agro-ecological systems.

The programme facilitates public procurement of food produced by family farmers and small-scale rural producers.

According to Maria Emilia Lisboa Pacheco of the National Agroecology Association (in Portuguese: ANA), it is possible to guarantee a healthy food supply for the Brazilian population, but to do so it is necessary to invest in production models such as agroecology, as reported by Toda Palavra, a partner of TV BRICS.

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