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To produce, consume and export more
fresh fruit are the targets set by the fruit farm-
ing sector in Brazil. These goals are included
in the National Fruit Farming Development
Plan (PNDF, in the Portuguese acronym),
launched by the Ministry of Agriculture, Live-
stock and Food Supply (Mapa), in February
2018. On that occasion, minister Blairo Mag-
gi signed a decree creating the Consultation
Energy
to grow
Fruit farming relies onplannig to increase even
further the present production volume of 44million tons,
in addition to stimulating consumption and exports
National
Fruit Farming
Development
Plan encompasses
10 areas
Committee to devise projects for the sector,
which will be coordinated by the Mapa and
consists of fourmembers fromthe private ini-
tiative.“Theplanisvast,comprisingnewrules
for authorizing the use of new pesticides and
the international standardization of all Phyto-
sanitary certificates”, heexplained.
The specific projects of the Consultation
Committee, recommending short, medium
l
LENDING SUPPORT TO PROMOTION
Besides the national plan, in December 2017 Abrafrutas and the Brazilian Trade
and Investment PromotionAgency (Apex-Brasil) signedanagreement regardinga sec-
toral project for a period of two years. The goal consists in doing articulated work be-
tween private initiative and the agency in order to boost Brazilian fruit exports. “With
the help of Apex, we will be able to participate in fairs and missions, and visit other
countries”, says Abrafrutas president Luiz RobertoBarcelos.
The initiatives include the participation in the Fruit Logistica, inBerlim, in 2018 and
2019; events for fruit distributors inEurope,MiddleEast andAsia; andmissions intend-
ed to prospect businesses and the preservation of the sector’s interests in the United
StatesandAsia. These investmentswill reachabout R$8million in2018and2019,with
an approximate contribution of 55% by Apex and 45% by the private sector. “There
is integrated effort between public and private initiatives towards the achievement of
these objectives”, stresses Jorge Souza, technical manager at Abrafrutas.
and long run initiatives for the adoption of
measures by government institutions and by
the private sector will be defined on the basis
of10thematicareas:governanceofthesupply
chain, research, development and innovation,
production systems, vegetable surveillance,
quality management, credit and risk mitiga-
tion systems, legislation, infrastructureand lo-
gistics, processing and industrialization, and
marketingandcommercialization.
It is estimated that in 2017 Brazil pro-
duced 43.5 million tons of fruit and 44.8 mil-
lion tons in 2016, according to the Brazilian
Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock
(CNA) and theBrazilian Fruit Growers andEx-
porters Association (Abrafrutas). The two en-
tities took part in the formulation of the 2017
plan and are an integral part of the Consulta-
tion Committee. “The expectation is for the
volume to go up 20%by 2023”, projects Edu-
ardo Brandão, technical advisor to CAN’s Na-
tional Fruit FarmingCommittee.
Brazil ranks as third biggest producer of
fruit in the world and 23rd in exports. The
intention of the representative entities of
the sector is to expand exports to US$ 1 bil-
lion in 2018 or, at most, by the end of 2019.
Without taking into consideration nuts and
cashewnuts, the shipments reacheda total
of US$ 812.846 million in 2017. Abrafrutas
president Luiz Roberto Barcelos has it that
Brazilian fruit exports have the potential to
go up and outstrip the record of US$ 1 bil-
lion achieved in 2008.
