Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Farming and Supply (MAPA), was established in 1973, at a time of intense population and per capita income growth in Brazil, and at a time when the country was being opened up to the international markets. These factors put pressure on the agricultural sector to invest in technology and research to increase the food supply.

Since its founding, Embrapa has broadened its scope to the following main areas: agriculture, agro-energy, agribusiness, food technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, animal production, and forestry. 

The company operates through research and service facilities, and administrative units, in almost every Brazilian state, in many different biomes. It currently employs over 9,200 people, of whom about 2,200 are researchers.

Trish Hughes/Stock.XCHNG Enlarge

• Production in the sector was boosted by the creation of Embrapa

To gather all the scientific knowledge from different states and on different issues, the organization set up the National Agricultural Research System (NARS ). It is fed by projects developed in cooperation with public federal and state institutions, universities, private companies and foundations.

Among the contributions made by Embrapa are the adaptation of soybeans to Brazilian conditions, which made the country the second-largest producer of the grain in the world, and the creation of research programs that have increased the efficiency of family farms and small producers in agribusiness.

In the area of international cooperation, Embrapa currently has 78 bilateral agreements with 56 countries and 89 institutions, mainly involving research partnerships and technology transfers. It also has partnerships with international laboratories, known as Laboratories Abroad (Labex), to do research in advanced technologies. They are located in the United States, Europe (France and UK), China and South Korea.

In regard to developing countries, Embrapa is prominent in technology transfer projects in Africa (Ghana, Senegal, Mozambique and Mali) and the Americas (Venezuela , Ecuador, Colombia and Panama).

In 2008, Embrapa announced its Strengthening and Growth Program (PAC Embrapa). This consisted of ten projects and 141 actions, and was completed in late 2011. The action took in research, development and innovation to meet new technological demands, and the creation of the conditions for their implementation – the recruitment and training of personnel and the revitalization and modernization of the research infrastructure at the SNPA.

Source:
Embrapa