9th IWCSPP

Traceability and certification were incorporated to Brazilian agribusiness in the past few years their advantages and implementation costs as a profitable production process still needs to be understood. The topic is one of the subjects of the 9th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, which will be held in October 15th to 18th in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.

“The traceability of grain production begins on the farm”, says the specialist from the Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (IMA), João Nelson Gonçalves Rios. According to this expert the farmers should organize their production registering all grain production aspects from the sowing process up to the harvesting and storing practices on the farm. As just 8% of Brazilian grain can be stored on the farm, the cooperative system and traders have the responsibility of storing and commercializing the grain. To sell their grain to industries as quality grain they need to have registered all aspects of grain production with the proper form of grain production traceability, explains Rios.
Traceability is a process that permits the farmers to guarantee their grain quality thus having a better price in the market. That process needs to be certified by private companies with the responsibility of that certification. Successful examples of this process are the coffee production in the states of Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, in Brazil, and apple production in Rio Grande do Sul, fine export products.

Even so, certification does not always mean better prices. “Certification is a guarantee of selling the goods first to anyone in the market looking for specific markets because it has a well known quality” says the agronomist Horácio Schwochow, quality manager from Multigrain, a trader from Brazilian Center West region. Multigrain offers a system that preserves the identity of their products based on traceability. According to him, characteristics such as grain without husk, lighter color or oil content give to the Brazilian soybean a quicker international commercialization, attending to a specific market. Anyway soybean with traceability and certification has the best value in the market says Horácio, reminding that the best advantage of certification is the guarantee of the grain quality that is in the product. “Someone assumes the responsibility of product quality for the consumer” he concludes.

One of the aims of the last Brazilian grain harvest was to certify non-transgenic soybean aiming at a more conservative market. Between the visionaries of this market was the COMIGO, which aggregates about 4.500 cooperative members from the Brazilian States of Minas Gerais and Goiás. According to the COMIGO operational manager, Paulo Carneiro Junqueira, 28 thousand dollars were invested to certify a single harvest. More than 400 dollars on transgenic tests only. “The disappointment at the time of commercialization was enormous, because the investment didn’t bring the expected return on the valorization of a different product. Caution is necessary before betting in only one market segment”, tells Junqueira, evaluating that, even so, determining the origin of the production is indispensable: “To be competitive and efficient on the competition with national giants and multinational companies, we need to follow the evolution of production. Monitoring allows a projection of growth and determinates the investments” evaluates Paulo Carneiro.

For more safety on the certification process, specialists recommend to pay attention to the norms required by specific market, such as the directions of GMP-13 and requirements of ISO and HACCP, which evaluate the management of soybeans from the harvest until the arrival at European Ports.

The subject “Identity preservation and Traceability” makes part of the program of the 9ª International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, with a talk by Thomaz Setti, from SL Food. The discussion happens on October 16th.

SERVICE
9th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, 15th to 18th October 2006

REGISTRATIONS
Website http://www.embrapa.br/9thIWCSPP

ORGANISING COMMITTEE
The conference promoters in Brazil are the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and the National Food Supply Company (Conab). It is held by the Brazilian Post-Harvest Association (ABRAPOS), with support from several research institutions, universities, consultants, equipment and pesticide industries, rural producers and storage personnel.

EVENT’S PRESS ADVERTISE
Joseani M. Antunes – Embrapa Wheat
+55 54 3316 5860 joseani@cnpt.embrapa.br
Jonas Cavalcanti – CONAB
+55 61 3312-6338 jonas.cavalcanti@conab.gov.br