tradicionalmenteinovador - Brazil Buyers & Sellers

In full swing
>> Brazilian Horticultural Association (BHA) completes 50
years and holds the 51st Brazilian Olericulture Congress
Sílvio Ávila
HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY
CHALLENGES ARE ON THE AGENDA
The year 2011 will be marked by important
events in the sector of vegetables
and related matters: the Brazilian
Horticultural Association (BHA) completes
50 years and holds the Brazilian
Olericulture Congress (BOC), which has
occurred on an annual basis since 1961,
when, at its first edition, the association
of the sector was founded. The event has
been scheduled for 25 – 29 July, at the
Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), in Minas
Gerais, which was equally the venue
of the first edition. The core subject is Vegetables:
from their origin to the health
and sustainability challenges.
“The hard, altruistic and persistent
work in pursuit of quality, conducted by
the executive and scientific commissions
of all the congresses since 1961until now,
is the key to the success achieved so far,
turning it into the most relevant scientific
conclave focused on vegetables,
aromatic and medicinal herbaceous
plants and spices in South America”, says
Paulo César Tavares de Melo, who served
two terms as president of the BHA, from
2005 to 2011. Melo is also a professor at
the Vegetable Production Department
at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture
(Esalq), a division of the University of
São Paulo (USP).
The association was created with
the aim to bring together people and
organs with interests geared towards
olericulture and, after 50 years, it is a
consolidated and public utility entity,
acknowledged by the Ministry of Justice,
the official recalls. The Brazilian Olericulture
Congress, in his opinion, is one of
the pillars that provides for scientific and
technological support, publishes the Brazilian
Horticulture Magazine and has its
own web site www.abhorticultura.com.
br. Melo adds that the event evokes the
past, provides for privileged space, thinks
the present and prepares the future in
the light of lessons learned from past
decades, when professors, researchers,
extension workers, technicians, students
and representatives of the inputs supplying
sector wrote the history of the association
and of olericulture.
>> ADVANCES The BHA founding
congress, in 1961, attracted 18 people
and came up with 14 actions. In the 50th
event, carried out in July 2010, in Guarapari
(ES), the number of participants rose
to 800 and 661 scientific papers were
presented, and prizes were given to the
most relevant papers. The 2011 event
feature the advances witnessed over this
period, which resulted into consumer
well-being and quality of life, higher remuneration
for the producers and sustainability
to the vegetable agribusiness.
On the schedule, workshops on the different
species, symposiums on nutrition
and fertilization, post harvest physiology
and organic cultivations.
The event also features the 3rd Latin
American Symposium on the Production
of Medicinal, Aromatic and Spicy Plants,
and a forum on the role of technical assistance
and rural extension services in
the rural setting. The traditional Producer’s
Day is also held and, for the first time,
the Consumer’s Day, focusing on the
health-related benefits from consuming
vegetables and strategies for spreading
this habit.
86