Project beneficiary supported by the JBS Fund for the Amazon reaches the final of the International Cocoa Award.

On Sunday (10/12), at the COP, the JBS Fund for the Amazon officially launched its JUNTOS program: People + Forests + Livestock. This initiative combines scalable business models that create value through improved land use and increased productivity, freeing up areas for forest recovery and other productive activities. It ensures traceability and promotes a decent income for small-scale livestock farming families in the Amazon. The announcement was made by JBS's Sustainability Director, Liège Correia, during the panel "Supporting Small Producers in a Fair Transition to Low-Carbon Livestock Farming in the Amazon," hosted by the Legal Amazon Hub and led by Raul Protázio, Deputy Secretary of Environment and Sustainability of Pará. Participants included Leonardo Botelho Ferreira, BNDES's Head of International Cooperation; Valmir Ortega, CEO of Rio Capim Agrossilvipastoril; Mariana Pereira, Program Manager at the Solidarity Foundation; and Petra Tanos, Director of Private Sector Engagement and Strategic Partnerships at the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA). Over the next ten years, the JBS Fund aims to allocate R$ 100 million to JUNTOS, leveraging additional public, private, and donation funds to foster over R$ 900 million in investment in hubs and serviced properties. The initiative's first phase focuses on including calf and yearling producers in the transition to low-carbon livestock farming, potentially doubling their income across their entire property. In intensified areas, profitability could increase sixfold. The program also aims for a traceable supply chain with socio-environmental compliance, supporting small producers with pasture renovation, access to productivity-enhancing technologies through agrosilvopastoral techniques, and supplying the market with high-quality, low-carbon animals. Liège Correia highlighted the current long and intermediary-filled livestock cycle in Brazil, emphasizing the need for shorter supply chains and better traceability to improve control and exclude those with irregularities. Raul Protázio pointed out the low productivity and technological access among family farmers in Pará, stressing the importance of centering solutions around the producers to encourage emission reduction, regenerative agriculture, and deforestation reduction. Petra Tanos from TFA emphasized the need for sector-wide approaches to scale solutions and tools for a vast number of producers, highlighting the importance of projects that provide livelihoods for families. Leonardo Botelho Ferreira discussed the BNDES's efforts to create diverse financing products for the Amazon's varied enterprises, noting a significant increase in resources allocated to family farming projects. Liège Correia also outlined other JBS Fund initiatives aimed at developing sustainable economies in the Amazon biome, including non-livestock projects and the RestaurAmazônia project, which combines low-carbon agriculture with sustainable livestock farming and forest conservation in the Transamazon region of Pará. Correia further discussed the importance of advancing low-carbon livestock farming through science and research, highlighting investments in carbon capture in pastures, methane reduction additives, and biogenic methane as fuel. She stressed the need for productivity-enhancing solutions to reach producers, mentioning JBS's efforts through its Green Offices and the JBS Fund for the Amazon to provide free technical assistance and support sustainable agricultural practices.