The goal is to translate sanitary legislation into accessible language and help small and medium-sized farmers and agro-extractive producers enter the formal market.
Sanitary legislation in Brazil is generally difficult for small rural producers who supply the country with family farm products to understand. To address this difficulty, the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN) is launching the groundbreaking website Agroindústria agroindústria.org.br , aiming to support the socio-productive inclusion of family, artisanal, and community groups by providing information that facilitates access to formal markets.
The website is being launched this month with new information and features. It now includes a virtual assistant that invites users to understand sanitary regulations: “We’ll help you understand how to legalize your agribusiness! Just answer a few questions to learn about the rules regarding products, labeling, and establishments.”
The goal is to make health legislation easier to understand, which is often difficult to access even for public officials. The legislation includes federal regulations in the areas of agriculture and health, regulated by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa).
Also accessible in the videos tab are tutorials on how to set up an agro-industry for baking, flour production, processing of açaí and other fruits such as coconuts and nuts, fish, vegetables, and more.
One of the site's innovations is also the presentation of plant models for agro-industries from some of the production chains most supported by the PPP-ECOS Fund, in the Downloads tab . "These are plants already built and operating in many of the communities we support with the PPP-ECOS Fund; in other words, agro-industries that were planned with the communities and are being tested by community organizations," explains Rodrigo Noleto, coordinator of the Amazon Program at ISPN.
The Legislation tab contains a compilation of sanitary legislation, covering everything from general guidelines for the implementation of agro-industries to best practices and a series on each of the production chains listed in the virtual assistant.
The ISPN initiative stemmed from the institutional strategy of promoting productive eco-social landscapes , and from the PPP-ECOS Fund, which has supported traditional peoples and communities and family farmers for over 30 years in their ways of life that conserve nature and generate income sustainably.
BUREAUCRACY
ISPN coordinator Rodrigo Noleto explains that family farmers, indigenous people, and traditional communities suffer from excessive bureaucracy, which prevents them from adding value to their products and, consequently, from making their businesses viable. As a result, many end up operating informally.
“It is not difficult to recall cases in which health legislation was devastating to artisanal and community initiatives, even those that had been regulated in municipalities or states, but which were prevented and had their products discarded due to market protectionism imposed by health legislation geared towards large industry and ultra-processed foods,” highlights Rodrigo Noleto.
To illustrate, the ISPN coordinator recalls the case of artisanal cheeses that were seized during the Rock in Rio event in September 2017 in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but which had sanitary permits in the state of Pernambuco. "For the consumer in Pernambuco, the situation was legal. However, in Rio de Janeiro, the product was seized and discarded, even though it was suitable for consumption," he says.
He explains that this happens because of the protectionism of sanitary legislation, which hinders access to regularization for family and artisanal production. After this case, a federal law was instituted (Law No. 13.860, of July 18, 2019) that allowed for greater circulation of artisanal products of animal origin throughout the national territory. Although the situation was not resolved, it was partially mitigated, opening other paths for family and artisanal agriculture.
The AgroIndústria website is an initiative of ISPN, with support from GIZ, the Bem Diverso Project, and the Amazon Fund. Access it here.
Text: Camila Araujo/ISPN Communications Office