Agro criticizes government after talking about deforestation in China – 03/30/2023 – Market

Agribusiness reacted strongly to the statements by the president of the Apex (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), Jorge Viana, made at a seminar in Beijing, China, on deforestation in the Amazon. “Misunderstanding” and “without purpose” were some of the expressions used by ruralists to define speech.

A sector that is strongly critical of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) due to what they describe as legal uncertainty in the countryside with recent land invasions and seeing damages with the tax reform under discussion, agro claims that the declaration de Viana at a government mission seminar in the Asian country harms the Brazilian economy.

“Eighty-four million hectares have been deforested in the last 50 years. And what are these areas being used for? […] We have 67 million hectares for livestock, 6 million hectares for agriculture and grain production, 6 million, out of 84,” said Viana.

The CNA (Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil) classified Viana’s position as a “contradiction” to the agency’s objectives and took the complaint to ministers Geraldo Alckmin (Development, Industry, Commerce and Services), Mauro Vieira (Foreign Relations) and Carlos Fávaro (Agriculture).

In the document, signed by President João Martins, the CNA states that the Apex’s mission is to promote exports and attract investment in sectors such as agriculture.

“In this context, the manifestation of Apex-Brasil, discrediting the sector that contributed, in the last year, with 47% of Brazilian exports, sounds, at the very least, like a contradiction to the objectives of the entity”, says the CNA.

The confederation also claims that half of the preserved area of ​​native vegetation in the country is in rural properties and that only 7.8% of the territory is occupied by crops, “a percentage well below that presented by countries like the United States, Germany, France and India” .

President of the FPA (Agricultural Parliamentary Front), federal deputy Pedro Lupion (PP-PR), said that the speech was “irresponsible” and “purposeless”.

The front published a long statement lamenting Viana’s position, in which it says that “the damage that a Brazilian spokesperson, responsible for promoting exports, does by allowing himself to tarnish all the research, technology and precision implanted by the agricultural sector is intangible , in an outdated premise devoid of scientific and official information”.

“It is important to note that we export to more than 200 countries with quality, efficiency and that we comply with all sanitary, environmental and market protocols. The damage goes beyond agricultural products and directly affects the Brazilian image in the international market”, says the front.

Last Monday (27), in Rio Verde (GO), the agro had already targeted the Lula government by criticizing, at the opening of Tecnoshow Comigo, the current interest rates, the tax reform, the lack of information about the Plan Safra and the recent land invasions carried out by movements such as the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra).

In an event without the participation of members of the federal government, there was no mention of Lula’s name and there was even criticism of Governor Ronaldo Caiado (União Brasil), a historic member of the ruralist caucus – for having created a contribution on agricultural products in Goiás that became known as the “agricultural tax”.