One third of the municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul declared an emergency due to the drought

The scarcity of rain meant that Rio Grande do Sul reached, this Monday (23), the mark of 167 city halls with a declaration of an emergency situation (until 5 pm). The number corresponds to one third of the municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, more concentrated in the Central, Fronteira Oeste, Missões and Campanha regions. And, in the crops, the losses are being consolidated.

A survey released on Friday by the Technical Network of Cooperatives (RTC) in the areas where 21 associated entities operate indicates that even in soybeans the problems are already getting worse. For the crop, a loss of 16% is expected in the harvest so far, but there are already some places where the loss reaches 40%. And the estimated average productivity fell from 3,490 kg per hectare to 2,940 kg.

But the biggest damage is really in the corn crops. The cereal shows a 53% drop in the average, ranging from 20% to 80%, depending on the location, reaching plantations established earlier and later. The scenario generates apprehension and even a certain discouragement in the president of the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Rio Grande do Sul (FecoAgro-RS), Paulo Pires.

“Support from the state government is important, but in relation to family farming. For agribusiness, what really matters is the participation of the Union, which we have not paid attention to since the visit of former Minister of Agriculture Teresa Cristina, on January 13, 2022. Nothing has happened since then, and the new government is still being structured . It’s complicated ”, she evaluates.

For this reason, the leader applauds the initiative announced by the Ocergs System, to invest R$ 300 million over the next five years in all seven branches of cooperativism: agribusiness, health, credit, infrastructure, transport, work and education. The resource, coming from the cooperatives themselves, should be applied according to the demand of projects in each area, for training, qualification and management, for example, according to the president of Ocergs, Darci Pedro Hartmann.

The entity is expanding the education and professionalization program with the development of cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul. Based on the Gaucho Cooperativism Plan – RSCOOP150, the system plans to invest this resource in training around 400,000 people. And agricultural cooperatives should be included, as it is necessary to seek ways to reduce the damage caused by the climate.

“Draughts are a recurring reality in Rio Grande do Sul. To fight them, we need permanent investment and structural measures, not palliative ones, to mitigate losses”, says Hartmann.

Cooperatives in the agricultural sector account for 71% of the system’s revenues in Rio Grande do Sul, reaching R$ 51.2 billion in 2021. With last year’s drought, income was affected by around R$ 5.7 billion, calculates the director of Ocergs. In 2021, agro billing represented 9% of Rio Grande do Sul’s GDP.

Although she did not detail how the sector’s training will be carried out, Darci Hartmann reinforced the understanding that it is necessary to qualify professionals so that the sector can show competitiveness in the face of the difficulties faced.

“The challenges for animal protein producers are enormous, with the drought destroying the crops of essential grains to feed the herds and the increase in supplementation costs, for example. So we need to step up support.”

The entity must also act politically, enhancing discussions with state bodies on the issue of water reservation.

“The state usually has above average rainfall in autumn, winter and spring. But even so, we continue to lose crops because we are unable to store water for the three months with the lowest rainfall. We have to strengthen relations with the Environment bodies, with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to solve this. If the law has to change, we have to change it”, he pointed out, referring to permanent preservation areas, where it is not allowed to build retention and storage structures.

For Paulo Pires, from FecoAgro, training is really the role of Ocergs. “This is a legitimate project of the organization. That’s your job. It was a huge victory that we were able to repeat practically the same results as the previous year in 2022 (Ocergs still does not have the aggregated data). In fact, we always have projects,” Pires points out.