A Cluster for Climate Adaptation in Brazil
Alejandro Litovsky
August 10, 2009
Last week I met in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with two irrigation companies and the social enterprises that are driving an innovative collaboration in the north of Brazil. Led by the Human Development Network (REDEH), the partnership is called Adapta Sertão. The meeting we organized aimed to use the Pathways to Scale framework to help the partners think through some of the challenges and opportunities they face as they re-group to scale the impact of their model.
Adapta Sertao has gathered different sectors to develop an agricultural production model for the semi-arid region of Brazil, where the majority of the population is poor and relies on subsistence farming and government subsidies. It aims to increase the area’s resilience to climate change by helping poor people become efficient agricultural producers, reverting an ‘aid culture’ that has prevailed for decades, with poor results.
The partnership articulates water and renewable energy technologies, social networks and grassroots mobilization, with public-private partnerships. It builds on the success of its first project Pintadas Solar, implemented (2006-2008) in the Pintadas municipality of 11.000 people in the State of Bahia, which caught international attention when awarded the SEED Initiative prize as a practice with the potential to be worked out at scale. Besides the companies involved, other partners include the Centro Clima, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; the government of the State of Bahia; the German Federal Environment Agency; and the Secretary of Science and Technology of the State of Bahia.
Adapta Sertao now aims to disseminate the model by creating a large network of municipalities throughout Brazil’s dry and poor regions, and eventually other regions of the world.
The meeting in Sao Paulo took place as I participated of the annual conference of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS). It included Adapta Sertao’s leadership, the two irrigation companies that are part of the cluster -–one of which, Netafim, holds more than 40% of the Brazilian irrigation market– and a representative from CEBDS.
Participants explored their work so far against the 5-stage model, and worked through some of the challenges they face for moving from the successful Pintadas pilot to the creation of effective markets for the solutions.
The companies saw the potential to deepen their market leadership in the region, but there was general agreement that the precarious infrastructures in the Sertao would need to go beyond a ‘base of the pyramid’ business model for the companies. The partners would need to work together to create the infrastructures that are required for the market opportunity to be real. A new business model, it was argued, would need to provide solutions for the distribution model for products and services, but also put in place a financial model for poor people to access the irrigation kits; a training and capacity building model for people to acquire the skills and capabilities needed to sustain new enterprises, and the governance structure that would enable business and governments to work together effectively
“I think the innovative research, methodology and examples that Volans’ Pathways to Scale Program brings to initiatives like Adapta Sertao are critical to inspire us to go beyond the barriers that are too much entrenched in our mental models.” said Thais Corral, leader of the Adapta Sertao initiative after the meeting, “it helped us to envision the ways we can collaborate to adopt Pathways to Scale that are quicker and clearer.”
Going forward, Adapta Sertao will be on our map as one of the new cluster initiatives that are emerging in response to climate adaptation challenges around the world. We look forward to a deeper engagement with the initiative and its partners, as it plans and implements next steps for scaling its transformative impact on Brazilian agricultural markets.