Agro projects billion-dollar loss with the end of the time frame – 09/23/2023 – Panel SA

The National Congress needs to take responsibility for the delay in discussing parameters for the demarcation of indigenous lands and move forward with the bill that has been in progress for 17 years.

For the vice-president of the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers, Paulo Sergio Aguiar, the proposal could override the decision of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) to overturn the landmark. The sector is already preparing, however, to mobilize for a constitutional amendment.

Aguiar says that the Supreme Court’s decision will create agrarian chaos in the country and will take billions of dollars from the trade balance by making areas that are currently productive unviable and that would no longer be viable if the demarcations progress.

Did you already predict that this would be the Supreme Court’s decision?
We are surprised. We believed that they would come with a position, maybe not as it was, but something close. If these indigenous issues have not been resolved in these 35 years [desde a Constituição de 1988] Due to the slowness of the Brazilian State, we thought that an objective position would come to the issue of indigenous demarcation.

What would this objective positioning be?
Something that you can measure. The 1988 Constitution gave five years for the demarcations, until 1992, 1993. The Indians who had made demands would be attended to. New demands would not be met because there was this deadline.

Now, look closely. With subjectivity, a single anthropologist goes to a place, talks to the Indians, takes immemorial possession, the Indian says that “ah, my great-grandfather passed here, my great-great-grandfather came to fish in this lagoon”, and he says that the area is indigenous . How do you prove this? There is no material proof.

What do you imagine will happen now, after the landmark has been torn down?
I see Funai, now with an indigenous president, accelerating the processes of demarcating indigenous land, putting all teams of anthropologists in the field to start making demarcations.

Taking 478 requests made by Indians, which do not yet have an ordinance, putting this to be analyzed. And I see a big land problem in the country.

You predict losses of US$42.73 billion (around R$210 billion) per year with the milestone. Where will this loss come from?
These losses were raised by the Agro Legal Observatory, linked to the FPA (Parliamentary Front for Agriculture), which raised all requests for reserves and the other 478 that may be.

They came to the conclusion that the indigenous area could double and that many of these territories are in areas already anthropized by agriculture, livestock, or cities. By extrapolating the size of the areas already demarcated in the past, we arrive at a certain number of agricultural and livestock areas that could be affected and that would no longer produce.

Would these be areas where production would be unfeasible?
Yes, because the indigenous people do not have control over the areas, they only have ownership. These lands will remain unproductive and had already been incorporated into the production system.

For the Indian, these lands will add little, because he prefers a closed area, with vegetation, with animals, fruits, a field of cassava and corn. These areas no longer have vegetation, they need to be planted, or they will become capoeira.

Is there anything that has been discussed between the producers?
We want the National Congress to take upon itself what is its responsibility. The bill that is now in the Senate has been in progress for 17 years. We think it overrides the STF’s decision, but if not, let it be through a constitutional amendment.

---

X-ray | Paulo Sergio Aguiar, 50

Graduated in Law, he is an agriculturalist and president of Comdeagro (Mixed Agribusiness Development Cooperative), in Mato Grosso. He is vice-president of Abrapa (Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers) and member of the Mato Grosso Agriculture Forum.

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.