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Vegetable garden at sea: PRIO program completes one year of green production in assets
The project aims to create a welcoming environment, which refers to the routine outside operations and generates moments of relaxation and integration between employees and nature
Have you ever thought about growing and harvesting your own food at sea? PRIO, the largest independent oil and gas company in Brazil, made contact with nature possible even at a distance of around 100km from the coast. The “Hortas no Mar” initiative, launched in 2022, aimed to offer a space for socialization and exchanges between its employees and raise awareness among the team regarding the importance of reconnecting with the environment.
“The idea is to take as much as we can from our own hobbies and activities that interest us to the field. The vegetable garden is something linked to sustainability and is an initiative that brings people together. I hope that little by little these vegetable gardens will grow, become more pleasant environments, that people become interested in this contact, and that this project will grow even more”, says Nelson Queiroz Tanure, president of the company’s Board of Directors.
Currently, Polvo, Tubarão-Martelo and Frade fields already have fenced vegetable gardens and a compost bin that provides liquid fertilizer for them. The initiative will also be replicated in 2024 in Albacora Leste, the most recently acquired asset. Production is carried out in three cycles and each one involves different species: seasonings, teas, vegetables and unconventional food plants (Pancs).
The whole maintenance is under the responsibility of employees, who also consume everything produced in the operation. To this end, they attended a workshop on vegetable gardens, an activity carried out with the support of the Community Agriculture Association of Cantagalo/Rio das Ostras, participant of the Environmental Education Project – PEA Rede Observação of PRIO. After planting, the team is constantly encouraged to share the progress of maintaining the garden and compost bin at each of our units. At the end of the cycles, the holders of the best scores receive prizes from the company.
The initiative also has a very important aim of contributing to the mental health of professionals who spend several days on board, away from land, their families and routine activities. “It’s time to disconnect from our 12-hour work routine, be able to go there, cultivate, plant, have that connection, as if you were at home” says Fernando Soares, utility technician at FPSO Bravo.
The initiative is also going beyond the company. “One day I left my building and saw a girl tending a garden bed. Then I talked to her, I talked about the project we have on board. She said she wanted to start a vegetable garden and then she and I, in exchange, started to take care of this project. The idea is to take lessons learned from the sea and be able to improve this project in my condominium as well. Today, when I arrive on the platform and find the vegetable garden alive and, sometimes, even more alive than it was when I went ashore, I know that the mission is being accomplished”, says Alexandre Oliveira, production operator at Frade.
“When I received the invitation from PRIO to grow a vegetable garden at sea, we were very apprehensive: the structure of a platform was very far from our reality. For us, we needed to be able to place something that was heavy and safe. We have faced several challenges since the beginning, such as salt, wind, and we even considered whether growing plants at sea would be feasible or not”, says Karla Carvalho, a family farmer who actively worked in the implementation and training project and is already seeing beautiful results. Today, with the know-how acquired by the company, implementing this initiative in new maritime environments takes around a month and should be standard across its assets and operations, including in our office.
In addition to the vegetable gardens, employees have other activities at sea to enjoy their moments of rest, such as gym, jiu-jitsu, shiatsu, yoga and functional training classes.
Sustainability is in our DNA
PRIO’s business, in itself, already carries the sustainability in its essence. In its business strategy, the company chose to act and become a specialist in the redevelopment of mature fields, that is, not to explore new blocks but to work with those that have already been explored and are currently no longer economically relevant to other companies.
It invests in these assets, makes them safer, efficiently increases their production and works to constantly reduce its carbon emission. Only between 2021 (considering the average for the year) and September 2023, the company managed to reduce relative emissions by 40%.
Through the Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC), PRIO invests in more than 70 projects with artisanal fishing communities. This year, the company was the only oil and gas finalist with two projects (Toninhas do Espírito Santo and Guardiões das Tradições Pesqueiras) in the biodiversity and Communities categories at the GRI Awards, which recognize companies which stood out in the infrastructure and energy sector to achieve the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals.
To learn more about these and other initiatives focused on the environment, health and well-being, visit the Sustainability Report.