Health and Social Needs

Fome Zero: A program to combat hunger

The program is called Fome Zero. Two words — and a clear message: zero hunger. Through this initiative, the Brazilian government aims to fight hunger and poverty in the South American country over the long term. Bayer supports this goal with its own projects.

José Carmago is a farmer in the Brazilian state of Paraíba. He lives in an arid region where agriculture is subjected to the whims of the climate – with fatal consequences for the food supply of the region’s population.

Yet since 2004 Carmago’s situation has improved. The reason for this is a program initiated jointly by Bayer CropScience and the charitable organization Agência Mandalla.

The idea of the project is as simple as it is innovative: an irrigation system laid out in concentric circles enables farmers to cultivate their land. The harvest yields supply their own needs and provide a source of income over the long term.

~~Mandala Project~~
With technical and financial support from Bayer, crop beds are established in concentric circles around a water-collecting basin. The irrigation system used to water this arrangement, known as a mandala, consists of a number of plastic pipe circuits. Various fruits and vegetables are grown in the beds, while the collecting basin can also be used to raise fish and keep waterfowl.

The more than 200 families taking part in the Mandala Project received a minimum monthly wage from Bayer for a six-month period, to bridge the gap until they were able to harvest the first crops. The surplus production from the mandalas has significantly improved the local population's food situation. The aim is for surplus produce to be sold by a cooperative set up by the workers.

The long-term Mandala Project is not the first initiative established by Bayer as part of Fome Zero (in Portuguese). In 2003 Bayer employees distributed relief supplies — 3.2 million Aspirin® tablets and 186,000 water purification tablets — in 51 communities in the poor northeastern section of Brazil at the government's request. For many of the 700,000 residents in arid northeastern Brazil, these aqua tabs were the only opportunity to access potable water.