At a time when the world questions the effects of industrialization on the earth’s environment, the food industry steps up to meet the challenge with a sustainable agriculture initiative (SAI) platform.
SAI is a groundbreaking program crea-ted by food industry leading companies Nestle, Danone and Unilever to actively support and promote sustainable agricul-ture. It encompasses social, environmental and economic dimensions that can have a tremendous impact on people’s daily lives.
“We in the food industry should share practices and experiences that will ensure sustainability from an environmentally and economically sound point of view,” said Nestle Philippines, Inc. (NPI) head of agriculture department Joel Lumagbas.
The SAI platform aims to improve the quality, safety and nutritional value of agricultural products through concrete ways of increasing the produce’s nutritional content and safety arising from the farm, including cutting the risks of harm-ful residues. It also addresses relevant is-sues such as improving the farmers’ productivity through attractive farming livelihood programs, land, soil, water and power conservation.
In the Philippines, NPI, through its brand Nescafé, promoted SAI to the key players of the food industry, government agencies, and non-government organiza-tions through the First Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform-Philippine Convention last November.
On a regular basis, Nescafé has SAI programs that touch base on the grass roots level with coffee farmers.
“The SAI platform supports agricultural practices and agricultural production systems that preserve the future avai-lability of current resources and enhance their efficiency,” said SAI Europe repre-sentative Patrick Leheup, who stressed the importance of long-term and efficient supply of agricultural raw materials.
“This increases agriculture’s contri-bution to the optimal satisfaction of society’s environmental, economic, and social requirements,” he added.
From an environmental perspective, sustainable agriculture has the overall objective of preserving the environmental resources and favors the use of renewable resources. The SAI platform addresses issues involving the optimal use of natural resources and how best to minimize the impact of agricultural activities on different geographical scales.
The SAI platform also tackles issues involving biodiversity, crop health and animal welfare. It is a massive underta-king that needs the full support of the private sector, government and academe if it is to have a lasting impact on our lives.
“Progress here and elsewhere has exacted a heavy toll on food production,” said Agriculture Undersecretary Jose Emmanuel Paras. “This is why we need to ensure the needs of the present without risking the needs of the future.”
Through Nescafé, NPI has come up with SAI-related practices. These include its promotion of coffee-based sustainable farming system (CBSFS) and establish-ment of buying stations in key coffee-producing areas around the country.
The CBSFS is a planting method that helps farmers increase their income by allowing them to plant other crops.
To find out more about SAI platform and access their database of sustainable agricultural practices, visit www.saiplatform.org.