Vila Isabel Samba School, sponsored by BASF, wins carnival championship in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (RJ) – February 14, 2013 – With the samba-theme “Vila sings Brazil, the world's granary – add water to the beans; we have another guest...”, the Vila Isabel Samba School won the 2013 carnival championship in Rio de Janeiro. Sponsored by BASF, the school led the parade through the Samba street on February 11th, with approximately four thousand members who marched over a 1/3 mile along street, singing the samba-theme about the life of Brazilian farmers.
BASF's sponsorship is part of a larger set of initiatives acknowledging the value and hard work of Brazilian growers. Since the partnership with the samba school was announced, the company
has achieved the goal of spreading the word about the importance of agriculture for all of civil society, especially urban centers. “Congratulations to the school and to the entire community of Vila Isabel for the great win! We succeeded in bringing our message to an enormous audience, since the entire country watches the Rio parade," said Maurício Russomanno, Vice President, BASF’s Crop Protection Unit for Brazil.
The figures behind the samba industry
To get an idea of the size and efforts to perform in a Samba parade it is important to highlight certain figures. In the case of Vila Isabel, they spent about 3 months to research and select the theme of their parade – that was announced in July 2012. In September, production started on the designs and allegorical costumes, together with the rehearsals. In order for all of this to go off without a hitch on the samba avenue as it did, historians, art managers, engineers and other professionals were needed and involved, totaling more than 130 permanent employees. Another 250 employees were hired under temporary contract to complete the work.
“I personally followed up on each phase of the project. We handled everything with the assistance of the school, seeking information about the true life of a farmer, and also facilitating the contact between them and the Vila researchers. We promoted a laboratory - a way of being able to realistically understand the routine, challenges and difficulties farmers face,” said Russomanno. “We know that the initiatives to appreciate the value of farmers cannot and will not stop here. We are nevertheless extremely satisfied by these results. Growers felt recognized by this tribute, which was one of our main concerns. And that alone was worth all of our efforts," concluded the Vice President of BASF.
About BASF’s Crop Protection division
With sales of around € 4.1 billion in 2011, BASF’s Crop Protection division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to the farming industry providing well-established and innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use these products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market success. The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production, improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality of life for a growing world population. Further information can be found on the web at or for specific information about our Public Health business, go to www.publichealth.basf.com. You can follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/basfagro.
About BASF
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success, social responsibility and environmental protection. Through science and innovation we enable our customers in almost all industries to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and system solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring healthy food and nutrition and helping to improve the quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF posted sales of about € 73.5 billion in 2011 and had more than 111,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.
- Sales in South America totaled approximately € 4.4 billion in 2011 (This result includes deals made by the Group's companies in the region, including Wintershall - a company located in Argentina, producing crude oil and gas).
- In South America, BASF had more than 6,200 employees at December 31, 2011.