“Sanitary decisions on innovations also involve political aspects,” said Paul Leonard, director of Institutional Relations of the chemical industry Basf, lecturer on “The Innovation Principle”, seminar promoted by the Secretariat of Agricultural and Livestock Defense of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, this Tuesday (20), in Brasilia.
There is no lack of standardization, he said. The problem is the interpretation given to the rules because of the involvement of political components. In Paul Leonard’s assessment there is a gap between scientific knowledge and society regarding innovations.
“The great challenge for scientists,” said Leonard, “is to be able to communicate to society about the scope and importance of these new technologies, because we need to regain confidence in our increasingly safe product control systems.”
According to the Secretary of Defense for Agriculture, Luís Rangel, the biggest challenge of agribusiness today is to maintain its strength giving agility and priority to innovations. “Regulation should enable changes in industrial processes,” explains Rangel, “without losing sight of the controls necessary for the health and safety of the products, as well as fostering the necessary agility of innovation for agricultural production.”
The director of Innovation and Technology of Embrapa, Cleber Oliveira Soares, explains that every day Brazilians “consume” agricultural innovations, when they feed, dress or move. “The very technology of drones, thermal infrared cameras (used for analysis of herds), among other equipment, are innovations that are promoting the great leap of Brazilian agriculture,” he said.
The director reminds that Brazil should provide 40% of the food to be consumed by the world’s population by 2050, a volume that requires investments in productivity technologies. In 34 years, global consumption is estimated at 1 billion tonnes.