In order to renew its relations with the African continent in the agricultural sector, Brazil has extensive experience in this area to meet its needs, estimate several Brazilian analysts interviewed by Sputnik. This trend manifested itself in Sao Tome and Principe at the end of August, when Brazilian President Lula da Silva declared that Africa “has everything it takes to become an agricultural power with the ability to feed its people and the world.” He also expressed his country’s willingness to continue its partnership with the continent.
Bilateral relations with African countries should only function according to the needs of each, i.e. FGV Agro) Eduardo Assad. We must help them strengthen local food production, he said.
“Their diet is a little different than ours [….]. We should therefore, for example, revisit the idea of a basic food basket and start producing beans or cassava, explains Eduardo Assad. We have very good technology in the production of these foods that we can use there.”
These projects are also taking on geopolitical contours, as European nations have adopted “green protectionism,” constantly criticized by the Brazilian leader.
“If you look at what European countries have done in Africa, they shouldn’t even be talking about green protectionism and sustainable production. “What was done in Africa during the Belgian, French and English colonization was a kind of blockbuster,” he criticizes.
“It’s not scary now anyway, because we’re a few light years ahead of them [les Européens] in terms of scale. The ABC of agriculture [plan d’adaptation au changement climatique et à faibles émissions de carbone] has been in operation for ten years. The African conditions for agriculture like ABC in Africa are enormous and give us an advantage,” he emphasizes.
In fact, Brazil is “a country with great experience and significant technological development in the agricultural sector,” continues Guilherme Ziebell, professor of international relations at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS):
“The Brazilian agricultural research company (Embrapa) is a central player in this context, as it is responsible for a large part of the innovations and developments in the sector, which in the past have allowed an increasing improvement in Brazilian agricultural production, increasing both its quality and productivity.
In this sense, partnerships between Brazil and African countries promise a win-win situation. For Brazil, this would help enrich its experience in this field, especially for dryland cultivation. In addition, it would strengthen cooperation in the development of specific products such as cotton, cocoa and others, as well as joint actions (for example in soil protection work), explained the professor.
The two researchers also agree that bilateral relations between Brazil and Africa are being rebuilt after their break was “voluntary and conscious,” especially from 2018 [année d’élection de l’ancien Président Bolsonaro, ndlr]remarked Guilherme Ziebell.
“Brazil has lost space and prestige on the continent, and an important part of cooperation with African countries has been interrupted. In the current context, since the beginning of the Lula government, there has been a movement to restore these ties, which, however, will certainly still have a long way to go,” concludes the UFRGS professor.