Advertisements
It was announced this Wednesday (28) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) that a total of R$ 71.6 billion will be allocated to the Family Farming Harvest Plan. The investment, valid for 2023 and 2024, represents a 34% increase compared to the amount allocated to the same purpose the previous year.
The changes
This year, the new feature is the reduction in the interest rate, which will be lowered from 5% to 4% annually exclusively for family farmers producing foods such as rice, beans, cassava, tomatoes, milk and eggs. The Federal Government states that the goal is to “promote the production of essential foods for Brazilian households”.
The rates for Proagro Mais, an agricultural activity guarantee program, will be reduced by 50% for food production. There will also be greater encouragement for farmers who choose environmental preservation, with annual interest rates of 3% for operating costs and 4% for investment. The beneficiaries will be workers who focus on:
organic products;
sociobiodiversity products;
bioeconomy;
agroecology.
Changes will also be made to the productive microcredit system, which will be aimed at low-income farmers. In this case, the required monthly family income threshold will increase from R$ 23 thousand to R$ 40 thousand. In addition, the credit limit will be increased from R$ 6 thousand to R$ 10 thousand. In the North region, the payment compliance discount will increase from 25% to 40%.
The Federal Government will modify aspects of the rural productive development program. This resource is aimed at farmers living in poverty. There will also be an adjustment to the required maximum family income, which will increase from R$ 2.4 thousand to R$ 4.6 thousand per family.
Lula takes a jab at Bolsonaro
Without directly mentioning former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Lula criticized his predecessor during the launch of the Family Farming Harvest Plan this Wednesday (28).
“Notice how I differ from other presidents: I am not instructing you to buy weapons, as they advised you to buy them to protect democracy. I want you to produce as much high-quality food as possible because the great weapon the country needs is a people with full stomachs,” President Lula stated during the launch.
“If we have an institute in each state that manages the land, my question is the following: why do we have to wait for people to invade land before they can buy it? Why don’t we conduct a survey of all unallocated land, all idle land, and create a land office in the government?”, he questioned.
“This applies both to the countryside and to the outskirts of this country. How much land must be unallocated, must belong to the Federal Government, in the States, while people are living
crammed into stilt houses, when we could give that land to the people, provide financing, and restore human dignity”, he emphasized.
Harvest Plan
On Tuesday (27), President Lula announced the details of the traditional Harvest Plan. According to him, R$ 364.22 billion will be released to finance agricultural activity. This project serves only medium-sized and large rural producers. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this is a record release.
Adding up the amounts allocated to the traditional and family-based Plano Safra programs, it is estimated that the Government is making R$ 435.8 billion available to this sector. Even though this figure is a record, it still falls short of expectations. In recent interviews, Minister of Agriculture Carlos Fávaro had said that he would make R$ 400 billion available.
In any case, the truth is that President Lula still believes that this announcement could be the beginning of a rapprochement with agribusiness, which in recent years has been closer to former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
