Brazil
June, 2007
The companies
Alellyx and
CanaVialis, both
controlled by Votorantim
New Business, and Monsanto,
signed a broad collaboration agreement for the interchange of
technologies of interest to both companies. “This technological
partnership will allow Alellyx and CanaVialis to provide the
sugar-alcohol sector with technologies developed by Monsanto. In
addition, it will allow Monsanto to use technologies developed
by our companies”, stated Fernando Reinach, CEO of Votorantim
New Business.
The first products resulting from this agreement will be
varieties of sugar-cane resistant to insect attach and varieties
that tolerate herbicides. These technologies will allow
CanaVialis’ customers to increase the productivity of reeds and
reduce their production costs.
“We believe that in the next few years, the efforts of this
partnership will be able to benefit sugarcane producers in
regions where malignant plants and insect pests render handling
and production difficult. In addition to the farmers, the
environment will also be benefited, since our technologies for
tolerance to herbicides and resistance to insect pests
contribute toward reducing the use of agrochemicals and emission
of greenhouse gases, to the extent in which operations with
machines reduce in the field”, stated Alfonso Alba, president of
Monsanto Brazil.
Alellyx, a company of applied genomics, was founded by the
Brazilian scientists who sequenced the genome of sugarcane and
of the first plant pathogen (Xylella fastidiosa). CanaVialis,
created by the geneticists who developed large part of the
sugarcane varieties planted in Brazil today, develops new
sugarcane varieties through classical genetic methods.
CanaVialis has contracts to supply varieties to over 40 plants,
which represents approximately one million hectares.
Currently, Alellyx and CanaVialis are in an advanced phase of
sugarcane variety development, with high content of sucrose and
adapted for new agricultural frontiers.
According to Reinach, “thanks to the agreement, CanaVialis will
reinforce its technology portfolio, which will help the Country
meet the demand for sugar and ethanol at medium and long terms.
The technologies for tolerance to herbicides based on glyphosate
and selective resistance to insect pests is already being sold
in Brazil in soybean and cotton, respectively. In future,
sugarcane planters will also be able to benefit from these
technologies”.
Brazilian Sugarcane Production
Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugarcane, with an
annual production of about 500 million tons of sugar and 18
billion liters of ethanol. Currently, 50% of Brazilian sugarcane
is used in sugar production. The other half is used in ethanol
production.
About Alellyx and CanaVialis
The companies Alellyx and CanaVialis are controlled by
Votorantim New Business (VNN) and were created over four years
ago. Today, they have a portfolio of technological solutions
directed toward sugarcane, orange and eucalyptus. These
technologies may be used in other plantations, like corn and
soybean.
About the Votorantim Group
The Votorantim Group is today one of the biggest private
business conglomerates of Latin America. Founded in 1918, it has
operations in the cement and concrete, mining and metallurgy
(aluminum, steel, nickel and zinc), pulp and paper, concentrated
orange juice, chemical specialties, electric power
self-generation and distribution and finances markets.
Information technology, services, bio-informatics and
biotechnology are the areas in which the companies from
Votorantim New Business’ portfolio operate.
About Monsanto
Monsanto has been present in Brazil for 56 years, today creating
about 1.8 thousand direct and 7 thousand indirect jobs and
investing about R$ 3 million per annum in actions directed
toward the well-being of the community and environmental
preservation. In addition, it has invested US$ 1 billion in the
last 10 years in the expansion and modernization of its
industrial units for Roundup and seeds in various Brazilian
states. Worldwide, it invests about US$ 700 million per annum in
research.
In Brazil, Monsanto produces herbicides from the Roundup®
Family, one of the most sold products worldwide for control of
malignant plants, due to its low toxicity and high efficiency,
and corn, soybean, sorghum, cotton seeds and greens. The company
is also a pioneer in the area of agricultural biotechnology,
offering farmers from many parts of the world the possibility of
choosing seeds that require less use of pesticides and lower
production cost. |
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