Chinese company and World Bank partner to ensure sustainable soybeans

The International Financing Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, will support the subsidiary of China's Cofco International in Brazil in the traceability of matopiba's soybean supply chain, according to a statement released on Friday (31).
The work will focus on the screening of soybean producing farms in the region composed of the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Tocantins and Bahia, in the Brazilian Cerrado, to ensure compliance with the main environmental and social criteria, ensuring that farmers use more sustainable agricultural practices.
Although the conversion of land to soybean plantations in the Cerrado has been decreasing since 2001, the Matopiba region recorded higher rates associated with growing global demand for soybeans, Brazil's main export commodity, according to a statement.
Screening will use satellite imagery and other geographic information and official data.
"The goal is to ensure that the supplying farms are free of forced labor, are not located on indigenous lands, conservation units or embargoed areas, and comply with the Amazon Soybean Moratorium," the statement said.
The project will also establish land conversion profiles for individual farms and assess supplier compliance with the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), an electronic government registry that combines geospatial data from rural properties with their environmental information, including legally protected areas.
Cofco International and IFC expect the project to cover 85% of the company's direct suppliers in Brazil in the Matopiba region by 2021, reaching 100% of the region by 2023.
Agrosatélite, a Brazilian company specialized in remote sensing satellite images and geographic intelligence, was selected as a technical partner of the project.
This partnership follows Cofco's recent announcement that it expects to achieve full traceability of all soybeans purchased directly from Brazilian farmers by 2023, the statement said.
"With this project, we will be able to further track non-pre-funded suppliers for key sustainability criteria and identify those with whom we want to engage more closely," Said Wei Peng, Head of Sustainability at Cofco International, in a statement.