Future will demand changes in food production, says Moretti in forum with Arab countries In the post-pandemic world scenario, new concepts in food production need to be adopted in order to offer health and food security for all populations. Such concepts will be based on 4 axes: animal health, human health, food security and susustainability. The warning was made by the president of Embrapa, Celso Moretti, during the Economic Forum Brazil and Arab countries, on Wednesday, October 21. The event was promoted by the Brazilian-Arab Chamber of Commerce, and the theme was "The Future is Now”. The online meeting gathered representatives of the public sector, country leaders, and institutions like chambers of commerce and companies. “Future perspectives will require many changes, because we will be facing a different reality in terms of population, urbanization, longevity, and consumption patterns”, Moretti said. “Strategies need to be defined to ensure sustainability in a world that will demand 35% more food, 40% more energy, and 50% more water to feed 8.5 billion people in the planet”. He underscored the role of agricultural research focused on the development of sustainable goals. He also spoke about the importance of science in studies related to gene editing, risk management, sustainable intensification, agriculture 4.0 and technological convergences. Moretti discussed the trajectory of the transformation of Brazilian agriculture in the last 50 years: “Embrapa and agricultural research institutions were able to defy the limitations that characterize the tropical belt of the globe and consolidate an unprecedented standard of productivity”. The president referred to the meetings with delegations and visits to the United Arab Emirates, where, as he explained, it was possible to observe enormous opportunities for cooperation in different areas. To the side of the director of the National Institute of Pesquisa Agronômica (INRA) in Morocco, Faouzi Bekkaoui, the president of Embrapa participated in the panel "Food Security: a strategic partnership between Brazil and the Arab world". Trade with quality The third day of the Economic Forum Brazil & Arab Countries was kicked off by Brazil’s minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa), Tereza Cristina. She highlighted the strategic closer ties between the nations: “the subject of this meeting could not be more important. The pandemic has put the limits of food systems and the interdependence between health and diets to the test ”, she said. For her, Brazilian products are adapted to the standards of the Arab countries, which strengthens the potential for growth in agricultural trade, based on quality. In the minister's opinion, in Brazil's relationship with Arab countries, on top of a growth in exports, there are conditions to increase the supply of products like cotton, cacao, fresh fruits and citrus. Tereza Cristina said that in her visits to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kwait and UAE, she saw opportunities for interaction and international investments herself. The vice-president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Ruy Carlos Cury, remarked that Brazil plays a leading role in supplying food to the 420 million residents of Arab League countries. “It is a very big responsibility to ensure that the daily population has quality healthy foods that are produced by a manufacturing process that respects Islamic beliefs, with halal certification”, he explained. Cury also said that despite the challenges of the pandemic, a time when some production chains faced inavailabilities, the problems were overcome and there were no food shortages. “This proves the solidity of the Brazilian agribusiness and the commercial partnership between the countries”, he concluded, underscoring the need to further strengthening relations, which in turn will give visibility to the existing opportunities in the food sector. For the Minister of State for Food Security in the United Arab Emirates, Mariam bint Mohammed Al Mheiri, regardless of the history and consolidation of the cooperation, there are countless opportunities in emerging and promising areas of food security and of agricultural technologies, the agritechs. “The pandemic brought forth new motivations in that sense”, she said, recalling that agritechs are becoming an increasingly more important component of Brazilian agriculture, especially in light of the restrictions to transportation due to Covid-19. According to her, the collaboration and the cooperation between Brazil and the UAB promote the sharing of knowledge and experience. The minister observed the work developed by Embrapa in her country in January this year, which resulted in the establishment of a joint research program in the area of the cattle farming. “Entrepreneurs have enormous chances of success in the agricultural sector. Startups are using cutting-edge technologies, and the Arab Emirates have been leading the global maturity index”, she concluded.