Crop Plan will have R$ 364.22 billion in financing for medium and large producers

The government announced this Tuesday (27) the contribution of BRL 364.22 billion in financing for the Crop Plan 2023/2024 specific for medium and large rural producers until 2024. The amount is 26.8% higher than that applied in the year last year, of which R$ 272.12 billion for funding and sales and R$ 92.1 billion for investments.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, interest rates for funding and marketing will be 8% per year for producers included in the National Support Program for Medium Rural Producers (Pronamp) and 12% for other producers. As for investments, interest rates vary between 7% and 12.5%, according to the program.

Rates, however, may be slightly lower for producers who adopt environmentally sustainable measures, with a reduction of 0.5 to 1 percentage point.

During the launch speech, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) minimized the conflictual relationship he has had with the agribusiness sector, due to statements made since last year’s election campaign. According to him, the government “does not think ideologically”, and that “it will not do more or less because it has more or less problems with agribusiness”.

The new Safra Plan also established new rules for the gross annual income limit for inclusion in Pronamp, which goes from BRL 2.4 million to BRL 3 million, with an investment financing limit from BRL 460 thousand to BRL 600 thousand per beneficiary per year, according to the ministry.

Still according to the government, the beneficiaries will have a lower interest rate for the acquisition of agricultural machinery and equipment through the Program for Modernization of the Fleet of Agricultural Tractors and Associated Implements and Harvesters (Moderfrota), at 10.5% for Pronamp, with no funding limit. For other producers, the interest rate remains at 12.5%.

On Wednesday (28) a specific Crop Plan for family farming will be launched.

Recovery of areas and expansion of warehouses

In addition to funding and investment resources, the new Crop Plan can also be used to recover degraded areas and pastures, with the implementation and expansion of integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems, adoption of conservationist use practices and the management and protection of natural resources.

“Up to 60 million hectares of degraded pastures, whose recovery will be financed by the government”, said Minister Carlos Fávaro, of Agriculture and Livestock, who also used his speech to ask the Senate to summon the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, providing clarifications on maintaining the interest rate at 13.75%, decided last week.

The implementation of organic agriculture, recomposition of permanent preservation areas or legal reserves, the production of bioinputs and biofertilizers, systems for generating renewable energy and other practices that involve sustainable production and culminate in low emission of gases that cause of the greenhouse effect.

The Program for Construction and Expansion of Warehouses (PCA) will have an increase in the volume of resources of 81% for the construction of warehouses with a capacity of up to six thousand tons and of 61% for warehouses with greater capacity. The objective is to strengthen the financing of investments necessary for the construction of new warehouses, in order to increase the installed static storage capacity.

Another highlight is the 30% increase in amounts earmarked for the Financing Program for Irrigated Agriculture and Protected Cultivation (Proirriga), which finances investments related to all items inherent to irrigation systems, including electrical infrastructure and for the construction of the reservoir of water.

It also finances the acquisition, implementation and recovery of equipment and installations for the protection of crops inherent to olericulture, fruit growing, flower growing, coffee growing and the production of seedlings of forest species.

Reviews

Lula also criticized the assertions of other countries about the environmental measures adopted by Brazil, in reference to the restrictions imposed by the French parliament for the implementation of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. “Instead of wanting to teach Brazil how to do it, it has to learn from Brazil to do at least the same thing”, he said about Brazilian environmental and energy preservation policies.

“And who fulfills [o acordo de Paris]? So it is important that we are serious so that we can demand seriousness from others. We don’t need to deforest anything to raise cattle and plant soybeans, we have the capacity to recover thousands of hectares of degraded land that this country has”, he added.

The president also responded to criticism of the reestablishment of relations with the Venezuelan government, in reference to Nicolás Maduro’s visit to Brazil last month. According to Lula, Venezuela’s problem “with the people of Venezuela is theirs, I want to know is that we had a surplus of US$ 4 billion and that we need to recover, to export our products and buy some product that they can sell us”.

Lula also repeated a speech given earlier, during the weekly live, that the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) no longer needs to invade properties and that Incra and the states can assemble a “shelf of projects” with studies of degraded lands that can be recovered and returned to be forwarded to agrarian reform.