Jane Battersby
SA suspends Brazilian Beef imports
IOL is reporting that “South Africa and China have joined Japan in suspending imports of Brazilian beef meat over an atypical case of mad cow disease, an official source said on Thursday.” (link)
While I welcome the government’s concern for our health, I have to wonder whether there are political plays underpinning this.
South Africa has been having a long running simmering fight with Brazil over food dumping all year. Back in February, South Africa imposes a provisional additional import tariff on chicken from Brazil after accusations of food dumping were investigated (link).
These tariffs expired in September and SA is seeking to formalise an extension (link). In response Brazil have contested this decision with the WTO (link and link).
With this rumbling in the background, is the ban on Brazilian beef imports really about a few outlying cases of BSE?
Western Cape ‘learning’ from Brazilian model?
Following up on last week’s story about “work for food” and the cutting of soup kitchens (Link) is this piece by Leon Schreiber.
He argues that the recent change in policy is connected to the Western Cape’s attempts to model policy after Brazil. He argues that the difference between Brazil’s politics and SA’s is that the “Brazil emphasizes investment in the human capital of its impoverished citizens, and that it views them as partners with co-responsibilities, while South Africa does neither.”
This is true. However, I think he fails to recognize the ways in which the Brazilian state also engages the markets as partners with co-responsibilities. In the Belo Horizonte food policy case a key element was engagement with and moderation of the market.
“The subject of food security is broad. I believe there is a responsibility that has to be divided – the market has responsibility; the state has responsibility; society has responsibility. It reaches from production to consumption, encompasses issues of sustainability and the environment. It does no good if people are producing food in a way that compromises future generations.” (Ariana Aranha, Special Assistant to Belo Horizonte’s. Food Security Programme and Brazil’s Zero Hunger Strategy.)
The programme therefore had preferential purchasing from small holder farmers to supply state programmes, guaranteed market place access for regional small farmers, market structures to guarantee low prices on fresh produce for low income households etc etc.
Although the Western Cape Government may have been influenced by part of the Brazilian model, I do not believe they have grasped how radical a proposition it really is.
For more on the Belo Horizonte case see Rocha and Lessa’s (2009) article - here
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South Africa to learn from Brazil
This is in the Times today (link):
“
Brazil has agreed to assist South Africa on social development issues, particularly in fighting against poverty and hunger
“It is important that we strengthen relations by sharing experiences with the view to find solutions to the similar challenges we face,” said Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini on Tuesday.
She was speaking at a discussion in Pretoria, where Brazil’s Deputy Social Development Minister Romulo Paes de Sousa shared policies on fighting hunger and poverty.
Dlamini said Brazil had made the fight against poverty a priority. It had taken specific steps in development that South Africa would want to learn from.
“You continue to implement various activities aimed at reaching the most vulnerable citizens. We are eager to learn about your comprehensive national alleviation plan and your successful Zero Hunger programme,” said Dlamini.
She said South Africa had noted how Brazil was aiming to help 16.2 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty with its the national poverty alleviation plan “Brasil Sem Misera”.
The plan included cash transfer initiatives, and increased access to education, health, welfare and sanitation.
She said South Africa was battling poverty and unemployment that contributed to dire living conditions.
“Our bilateral engagement during these two days is a confirmation that we are indeed committed to tackling these challenges,” she said.
The discussion was attended by social development MECs from provinces across the country.”
It is good to see this finally getting some coverage - the Zero Hunger Policy in Brazil has informed recent thinking at National Government, but as yet there is little indication of how this kind of integrated approach to food security will play out in a context where the productionist bias remains so strong.
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Now Brazil starts buying up land in Mozambique
Hmmm,
“The Mozambican government is providing large tracts of land at a symbolic price to Brazilian farmers to produce soy, maize and cotton, Mozambique’s agriculture minister, José Pacheco told Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.
“Brazilian farmers have accumulated experience that is very welcome,” said Pacheco, adding that, “we want to repeat in Mozambique what they managed to do in the Brazilian cerrado 30 years ago.”
The minister also said that Brazilian farmers would be provided with 6 million hectares (60,000 square kilometres) in four province of northern Mozambique to be farmed under concession for a period of 50 years, renewable for a further 50 years against payment of an annual rent of 37.50 meticals (21 reals) per hectare.
The president of the Cotton Producers Association of the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil, Carlos Ernesto Augustin, told Folha de São Paulo that Mozambican land was very similar to that of the interior of Brazil, with the advantage of the price and the ease in obtaining environmental licenses.
“Mozambique is like Mato Grosso in the middle of Africa, with free land, without so many environmental obstacles, with a much cheaper shipment cost to China (…) Nowadays, as well as land being extremely expensive in Mato Grosso, it is impossible to get a license to clear the area,” Augustin told the newspaper.
China is the main world customer for the soy produced in Brazil and is an important buyer of other agricultural products from the South American country.
According to the Sao Paulo newspaper, a delegation of 40 Brazilian farmers plans to travel to Mozambique in September to analyse the land available in Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambézia provinces. ” (source)
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Now Brazil starts buying up land in Mozambique
Hmmm,
“The Mozambican government is providing large tracts of land at a symbolic price to Brazilian farmers to produce soy, maize and cotton, Mozambique’s agriculture minister, José Pacheco told Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.
“Brazilian farmers have accumulated experience that is very welcome,” said Pacheco, adding that, “we want to repeat in Mozambique what they managed to do in the Brazilian cerrado 30 years ago.”
The minister also said that Brazilian farmers would be provided with 6 million hectares (60,000 square kilometres) in four province of northern Mozambique to be farmed under concession for a period of 50 years, renewable for a further 50 years against payment of an annual rent of 37.50 meticals (21 reals) per hectare.
The president of the Cotton Producers Association of the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil, Carlos Ernesto Augustin, told Folha de São Paulo that Mozambican land was very similar to that of the interior of Brazil, with the advantage of the price and the ease in obtaining environmental licenses.
“Mozambique is like Mato Grosso in the middle of Africa, with free land, without so many environmental obstacles, with a much cheaper shipment cost to China (…) Nowadays, as well as land being extremely expensive in Mato Grosso, it is impossible to get a license to clear the area,” Augustin told the newspaper.
China is the main world customer for the soy produced in Brazil and is an important buyer of other agricultural products from the South American country.
According to the Sao Paulo newspaper, a delegation of 40 Brazilian farmers plans to travel to Mozambique in September to analyse the land available in Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambézia provinces. ” (source)
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Zero Hunger Brazil
The Guardian have yet another good article on food security issues (Link).
In this one they highlight Brazil’s Zero Hunger Programme:
“Brazil’s credentials in tackling hunger and poverty are well established. The Zero Hunger programme, created in 2003 and co-ordinated by Dr José Graziano da Silva, combined emergency actions with structural measures for food security. It was the starting point for all other policies implemented in the following years. Income transfer programmes such as Bolsa Familia – which supports more than a quarter of the population – combine food safety, access to education and health, and measures to foster local development, especially in rural areas.”
We’ve just hosted a ‘feasibility study’ to assess the possibility of Cape Town learning from/replicating aspects of the Belo Horizonte Food Programme (click here for a video about their programme). South Africa is looking into Zero Hunger policy too, so it is good see the Brazil approach getting validation.
