Brazil’s National Supply Company (Conab, Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento) has received accreditation from the UN World Food Program.
It is the first Brazilian organization to do so, and as such will supply goods from family farms, such as wheat, rice, corn, cassava flour, sugar and beans, to be distributed in poor countries.
The UN World Food Program is the biggest buyer of food in the southern hemisphere. It provides humanitarian assistance to people without food security. In 2003, it distributed food to 110 million people in 82 countries.
The Conab president, Jacinto Ferreira, says the supply contract with the UN will give family farming a boost. “We are already negotiating the sale of excess production to Libya, China, Angola and Mercosur,” he reports.
ABr