tradicionalmenteinovador - Brazil Buyers & Sellers

Fighting for space
>> Nationwide actions seek
to drive the demand for
horticultural products,
now at sluggish pace
Important to human health, vegetables have not yet conquered
the space they should have on the Brazilian kitchen
tables, a fact that has triggered campaigns focused on encouraging
the consumption of these products. A very persuasive
campaign to this end, whose slogan is “Hold on to your
daily portions of vegetables: your health will be grateful for
it”, was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and
Food Supply (Mapa) in 2011, through the Sectorial Council of
the Vegetable Supply Chain. The initiative relies on the direct
support from the Brazilian Horticulture Institute (Ibrahort)
and from the Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small
Companies (Sebrae), besides all organs linked to the Council,
including Embrapa Vegetables, based in Brasília (DF), and the
National Supply Company (Conab).
Embrapa Vegetables has incorporated the theme into its
projects, like Communication strategies as a tool for encouraging
the consumption of vegetables by children. The main focus
are the public schools in the Northeast and North, regions where
consumption is lagging behind all other states. The Conab,
through the Foods Acquisition Program (PAA), gives priority to
purchasing the horticultural products in the regions where they
are produced, in line with the National School Meals Program
(PNAE), whereby it is mandatory to include products from family
farming operations. Within this context, also noteworthy are
the initiatives of the company towards strengthening the sales
of products from small-scale farms in fairs, along with the revitalization
of the Supply Centers (Ceasas), through the Brazilian
Program for Modernizing the Horticultural Market (Prohort).
If the idea is to boost consumption, this will require efforts
towards the industrialization of these products, together with
research works on more varieties destined for this purpose, besides
improving the distribution logistics. Furthermore, what
should never be overlooked, according to the Food Technology
Institute (Ital), in São Paulo, is the need to respond to the worldwide
trends in terms of food, such as healthiness and well-being,
convenience and practicality, sensoriness and pleasure.
Within this context, functional products are recommended
(enriched with fibers and vitamins), whole products, organic,
with little sugar and salt, flower-based products, plants with
medicinal and cosmetic properties, all bearing a quality label.
There is also a variety of small portion preparations or packed
for individual consumption (monodoses). Also recommended
are items of higher added value (gourmet and premium),
based on regional recipes and distinct aspects (in taste and
packaging, among others).
>> VITAL People are increasingly taking into consideration
what was proposed in the 5th Pan-American Congress on the
Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables for the Promotion of Health,
held in Brasília (DF) in September 2009, by the Ministry of Health
and other partners, jointly with the Brazilian Horticulture Association
(BHA). In its report, it is observed that bigger daily portions of
fruit and vegetables is one of the nutritional recommendations
related to the prevention and control of non-contagious chronic
diseases (obesity, cancer, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular
conditions), responsible for the major causes of morbidity and
death in Brazil and for 70% of all money spent by Brazil’s National
Health Service (SUS).
The recommendation is for a person to consume at least
400 grams of these products a day, but the average in the
Country remains way below – something about 132 grams
a day. In the said event, exhibitor Carlos Augusto Monteiro, of
the University of São Paulo (USP), attested that the reduced inclusion
of fruit and vegetables in the daily diet is the only risk
factor that boasts reliable and quantifiable evidence related to
diseases and deaths around the globe.
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