taking action: mercosur countries contribution on food security and sustainability challenges
TRANSCRIPT
Taking action:
Mercosur countries contribution
on Food Security and
Sustainability challenges
Agustin Tejeda Rodriguez
Chief Economist
Buenos Aires Grain Exchange
Food Security: an even more complex challenge
Food Security
• Economic growth and the emerging middle class translated into a greater demand of ag. products for food; and also for energy and other non-food uses.
Sustainability
• Food Security should be reached while taking into account the impact of the production systems on climate change and natural resources sustainability.
ABPU Countries
• have a proven track record of growth and innovation based on environmentally friendly production systems.
• their contribution could be strategic to address world food needs sustainably.
The Bio-economy approach
Food Security: ABPU countries main net exporters
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
Source: Buenos Aires Grain Exchange based on data from SD -WTO.
Net Agricultural Exports – 2013-15 Average, Thousand dollars
The role of ABPU countries will continue to increase in future
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
Cereals Oilseeds Meats
Source: ERAMA – INAI Foundation
ABPU Exports – thousand tons
(Right axis)
ABPU countries will increase their share in food exports
Source: ERAMA – INAI Foundation
ABPU Countries Market Share
14%
48%
27%
4%
50%
31%
54%
29% 28%
37%
10%6%
3%9%
43%
8%
20%
57%
32%
6%
67%
45%
64%
36% 35%
42%
14%9% 5%
11%
45%
10%
2013-15 2025
Toward more environmentally friendly production systems
• Sustainable intensification strategy
• Good Agricultural PracticesArgentina
• Low Carbon Agriculture –ABC Plan.
• Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forest (ICLF) System
Brazil
Massive adoption of no-till planting
Argentina – Share of area planted with no-tilling
Source: AAPRESID and RETAA – Buenos Aires Grain Exchange
Brazil – Area planted with no-tilling, million hectares
Source: Markestrat, with National Federation of No-tillage in theStraw (FEBRAPDP) and Conab data (2012).
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100% 68%
Protecting native vegetation: new legal frameworks
Argentinian Native Forest Law (2009)
Brazilian Forest Code - Law onProtection of Native Vegetation (2012)
Source: data from Secretaria de ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable of Argentina (2015), Global Forest Watch (2014), Mongabay (2015)
Figure 7. Annual deforestation rate in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay y Uruguay during the period 1990 -2014. Negative numbers: deforestation. Positive numbers: afforestación. Sources: data from Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable ofArgentina (2015), Global
Forest Watch (2014), Mongabay (2015)
1995 2000 2005 2010 20151990
-0.4
An
nu
al
cha
ng
e o
f th
e fo
rest
are
a (
%)
0.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
Brazil Argentina
Paraguay Uruguay
ABPU Biofuels Strategies
Argentina
• Mandatory blends of 10% for Soybean Biodiesel and 12% for Sugar Cane and Corn Ethanol.
• Argentina has became themain exporter of SoybeanBiodiesel.
Brazil
• Using 0.5% of total landarea, Brazil has managedto replace almost 42% of its gasoline consumptionwith sugar cane ethanol.
Final Remarks
Regional food production and consumption imbalances are, and will be, very relevant.
ABPU countries would play a strategic role, addressing the world food needs in a sustainable manner.
They have implemented policies to increase production and protect their natural resources; and they also reaffirmed a strong commitment to the international community.
However, world trade is seriously limited by trade policies inconsistent with global food security and natural resources conservation purposes.
Therefore, a more open world food trading system should be a major objective, and the Buenos Aires Conference could represent an important step.