On April 27th, Balsas-MA PCI Compact started the process towards the implementation of the goals of the Produce, Preserve and Include axes. An online event brought together over 60 stakeholders, including representatives of state and municipal governments, the private sector (companies, associations, farmers), and civil society in the state of Maranhão to formalize the constitution of the Steering Committee that will be responsible for enabling the implementation of these goals.
Within the next few months, the local governance structure is expected to be submitted and validated, and the roles and responsibilities of each partner involved will be defined. Furthermore, they will develop a monitoring and evaluation system, in addition to a survey to collect information on the investments in the productive chains in the region that are needed to deliver such results.
The next steps of this strategy, jointly designed to encourage agricultural production, promote the conservation of natural resources and support the inclusion of family farming, will be developed by Fapcen and Natcap, with funding from IDH (Sustainable Trade Initiative).
During the event, Ted Lago, president of the Empresa Maranhense de Administração Portuária reiterated the importance of establishing this governance mechanism to ensure the success of the proposal. “Every initiative needs formal structuring and I really liked what I have seen so far. We are integrated with the region and you can count on us,” he pointed out.
The Secretary of Infrastructure of the State of Maranhão, Clayton Noleto Silva, underscored that the Compact enables the integration of corporate and public agendas, which, in turn, allows for integrated management in order to optimize resources, modernize planning and improve the way it is implemented. “Like the governor, Flávio Dino, we are enthusiastic about this type of initiative and we are excited to be able to be part of it”, he announced.
Next, Gisela Introvini, superintendent of Fapcen, recalled the goals set and highlighted the work that is already underway to achieve each of them. “All these partnerships that we see here give us strength for whatever activities we set out to do,” she said.
The executive director of IDH in Brazil, Daniela Mariuzzo, also thanked the partners for their involvement and Fapcen’s leadership in the process. She took the opportunity to add that the initiative is also connected with national and international agendas. “The construction we are undertaking here strengthens the country’s overall strategy in relation to climate change because we are addressing targets that have been agreed with all representatives, from all sectors, and that are disclosed worldwide, towards a low carbon agriculture,” stated Mariuzzo.
The construction process of the PCI Compact for the Balsas Region started in June 2020 with internal strategic alignments. In July, they launched the invitation to the entire society, through an international event (also online) that aimed to present the landscape proposal and engage interested actors. Then, several meetings were held in order to build the qualitative and quantitative targets, which were finally formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed by the partners. The Compact’s launch event was held in November last year, with the dissemination of the vision of a long-term sustainable landscape built collectively by the different actors.