Innovation and technology are fundamental for agribusiness of the future, says secretary

The opportunities offered by agribusiness in Paraná and the need for actors involved in this sector to be increasingly assertive in their decisions was the topic discussed this Tuesday morning (26) at an event promoted by Lide Paraná, a business ecosystem that brings together business leaders from different segments.

One of the guests was the state secretary of Agriculture and Supply, Norberto Ortigara. He recalled that Brazil employs 28 million people in the agricultural process, which is a dynamic sector. “Today, there is no longer room for empiricism in decisions,” said Ortigara.

According to him, because rural producers have little influence on defining the price of products and even less influence on climatic conditions, they need to have more control over the cost of production. “The more efficient, the more assertive, the more rational it is, the more likely there is to have farmers with profits to reinvest,” he said.

Ortigara presented the relevance that Paraná has both in relation to grain production, which in the last harvest reached 45.8 million tons, and in animal protein, which the State leads nationally, with a large expression in chicken (2.1 billion heads in 2023) and pigs (12 million units).

“We have a very relevant participation in the generation of foreign exchange, as we are the third largest exporter of Brazilian agriculture, with almost US$ 20 billion, and we also have the most diversified agriculture in Brazil, with more than 400 items produced”, he highlighted. In total, 33% of the territory of Paraná is covered by agriculture.

FUTURE – But, according to the secretary, what brought the farmer to this position is not what he will take forward. “What will take us forward is another technological leap that is underway, it is innovation, it is more biology in the production process, it is a rational use of resources, as few spaces in the world have the conditions to produce biomass like we have here”, he said .

Ortigara predicts that in 2030 the Brazilian grain harvest will go from the approximately 320 million tons produced in the 2022/23 cycle to 400 million. In meat, national production was around 29 million tons, with the possibility of closing the decade with 36 million.

“If Brazil wants to take advantage of the opportunity that the world offers to dynamize, strengthen and increase a technological sector, it can and must do so, not neglect”, he declared. “Nobody asks for anything for free, we need a healthy environment to invest, a suitable environment, a more decent interest rate to be able to produce food and fiber.”

BRAZIL – Also present at the meeting, the vice-president of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association and former Secretary of Agriculture of São Paulo, Francisco Matturro, showed that, between 1974 and 2021, the planted area grew by 79% in Brazil, while production jumped 596%. “The agricultural industry responds in one harvest,” he said.

Currently, the country leads the world in the production of sugar (38 million tons), coffee (850 thousand tons), orange juice (1 million tons), meat (29 million tons), corn (131 million tons) and soybeans. (155 million tons). And it is second in cotton (3.2 million tons) and ethanol (36.5 billion liters). In fruits (60 million tons) and fish (860 thousand tons) it is third.