Drought in RS: ministers will announce measures against drought – 02/22/2023 – Market

A delegation of ministers will go to Rio Grande do Sul this Thursday (23rd) with the promise of announcing measures to combat the effects of the drought that affects the state this summer. It is expected that actions such as the renegotiation of debts of producers affected by the drought will be confirmed.

According to information released by the federal government, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will not be on the trip. The government should send five ministers to Rio Grande do Sul.

They are: Waldez Góes (Integration and Regional Development), Paulo Teixeira (Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture), Carlos Fávaro (Agriculture and Livestock), Wellington Dias (Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger) and Paulo Pimenta (Department of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic).

The announcement of the package promised by the government is scheduled to take place in the municipality of Hulha Negra (about 380 km from Porto Alegre), close to the border with Uruguay.

“We have been debating for a few days now, formulating what is possible for each [ministério] to meet. On the part of the Ministry of Agriculture, obviously, we have to deal with debt renegotiation, extending the term of these debts”, said Minister Carlos Fávaro this Wednesday morning (22), in an interview with Rádio Gaúcha.

“We are working, and we still need to close today, lines of credit, if [isso] it is now or during Plano Safra, which comes out in a few days. There is the emergency issue of tank trucks for water supply, cisterns, basic food baskets by the Ministry of Social Development. We have the issue of buffer corn stocks,” he added.

As reported by the Sheetthe lack of rain has once again punished Rio Grande do Sul’s crops this year, in addition to emptying dams and making conditions difficult for raising cattle.

In the last four years, this is the third drought with considerable effects on the local economy. The other two took place in early 2020 and 2022.

“The situation is very worrying”, says the president of Fetag-RS (Federation of Agricultural Workers in Rio Grande do Sul), Carlos Joel da Silva.

The entity defends emergency actions to combat the effects of the drought. Extension and discounts on agricultural financing, reinforcement in the distribution of water in tanker trucks and sending basic food baskets to affected families are part of this list.

Silva also considers that it is necessary to develop measures of a structural nature, since droughts bring recurrent problems. In this sense, he defends that the federal and state governments subsidize the construction of reservoirs to store water during the year in rural properties.

Gaucho municipalities estimate a loss of R$ 13 billion with the new drought in 2023, according to data released on Friday (17) by the state government. This value still needs to be validated and may change until the end of the season.

On Friday, based on data from Emater-RS, the government also indicated that projections for soybean and corn production were revised downwards by 20.8% and 30.6%, respectively.

Drought is associated by specialists with the La Niña phenomenon. The weather event is responsible for affecting the circulation of winds and the distribution of rainfall. When it hits the country, it usually causes drought in the South.