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03.31.08
» BNDES approves R$ 20 million for
innovation in the farming sector
· Brazil will have the first chip with domestic technology for bovine tracking
. Investment will substitute imports and will increase competitiveness in the cattle raising sector
The board of Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e
Social [BNDES] approved two financings in the ambit of the
Technological Fund [Funtec], directed to innovation in the
farming sector.
The first financing, of R$ 18.1 million, is directed to the
Excellence Center in Advanced Electronic Technology [Ceitec],
in Porto Alegre (RS) [State of Rio Grande do Sul]. The funds
will be applied to the development of a bovine tracking
radio-frequency identification system.
The other BNDES financing in the ambit of Funtec, of R$ 1.7
million, was directed to Blumenau Regional University
Foundation [FURB], with the purpose of producing free
software for the management of small agribusiness activities.
The Rio Grande do Sul project provides for the development
and manufacture of electronic identification chip for bovine
tracking and investments in complementation of the first
line of the Brazilian production for manufacturing
semiconductors (chips) with such purpose. The operation
supported by BNDES will strengthen two segments strategic
for the country: semiconductors and agribusiness.
Tracking is a process to monitor all the events and moves in
the animal’s life, from birth to slaughtering. The “mad cow
disease” crisis and the aphtous fever outbreaks affected
seriously the trading and reaffirmed the necessity of
Brazilian enterprises to improve their tracking methods for
live animals. As a result, the country may supply a meat
with guarantee of quality and food safety to consumers.
The financing to Ceitec will correspond to 89.3% of the
project’s total cost, of R$ 20.3 million. The support from
BNDES will allow the country to obtain experience and
control over the technology of chip manufacture for tracking,
since this is a dissemination of the first integrated
circuit in Brazil. This project represents a significant
step towards the country advance in semiconductor industry,
allowing its final product to compete internationally.
For the first time, Brazil will produce chips with 0.6
mícron technologies (1 mícron is equivalent to 1 thousandth
of millimeter). This technology allows the manufacture of
chips with complexities similar to a Pentium I, granting a
wide range of applications to the electro-electronic sector.
Up to now, the electro-electronic components used in the
tracking electronic identification system are imported, with
a high cost to the Brazilian producer. In addition to
allowing a substitution of imports, the Ceitec project,
supported by BNDES, will integrate the knowledge generated
at universities and excellence centers to enterprises,
forming a highly qualified manpower in Brazil and
stimulating research in micro-electronic and in
radio-frequency technologies.
The same must occur in the segment of software directed to
bovine tracking, thanks to execution of the FURB project.
The investments provide for a creation of communication
interfaces applicable to free software and to an
administrator of herds that has been developed in
partnership with the Megaflex group, of Florianópolis, (SC)
[State of Santa Catarina]. The project aims at allowing the
commercialization of a solution for bovine handling and
tracking.
The investments will promote competitiveness in the
Brazilian farming sector, with adjustment to the rules in
exports and adaptation to the international standards for
trading in the farming sector. Additionally, it has a
potential for disseminating innovation by means of other
domestic enterprises.
Another merit of the project is in the possible adaptation
of the chip to other uses, like, for instance, in car
windshields. The global demand of mobile radio-frequency
presents a growth expectation from US$ 26.9 billion in 2007
to US$ 701 billion in 2010.
Although complementary, the Funtec, Ceitec and Furb projects
may coexist independently, since the Furb solution may use
the radio-frequency chip imported in the absence of a
domestic similar. However, aiming at the opportunity of
increasing the nationalization percentage of bovine tracking
and reducing its foreign exchange risk, Megaflex entered
into a partnership with Ceitec for future supply of such
components.
The initiative of the enterprises is complementary, but they
have not entered into a term of exclusiveness in trading the
chip and earrings for animals, which is healthy for market
competition.
Under the agreement, the chip will come out of the plant
with a sequential numbering and single recording memory.
Subsequently, the animal’s Sisbov number (Brazilian System
for Identification and Certification of Bovine Origin) will
be stored, and would be stamped to a earring. The animals
registered with Sisbov have an identification number
containing the origin property, month of birth, gender,
raising system, feeding and sanitary data. Joining to Sisbov
is voluntary to rural producers, but will be mandatory in
case of trading of bovine meat to markets requiring tracking,
as, for instance, the European.
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