Prodes: Approximately 28% of producers who have taken out credit in the past may be impacted by the restriction.

The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, André de Paula, reaffirmed this Monday (4), in São Paulo, his willingness to maintain close dialogue with the productive sector and to act as an interlocutor for the demands of agribusiness with the federal government. The statement was made during a meeting of the Superior Council of Agribusiness (Cosag), held at the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp). The minister was received by the president of Cosag, Senator Tereza Cristina, and was accompanied by the executive secretary, Cleber Soares; the secretary of Trade and International Relations, Luís Rua; the secretary of Agricultural Defense, Carlos Goulart; the secretary of Agricultural Policy, Guilherme Campos; the secretary of Rural Development, Marcelo Fiadeiro; the special advisor to Mapa, Sibelle Andrade; the head of the Special Advisory for Social Communication, Carla Madeira; and the president of Embrapa, Silvia Massruhá. This was André de Paula's first participation in the collegiate body since he took over the ministry. During the meeting, the minister and his team listened to representatives from various segments of agribusiness, including financial institutions that operate the Plano Safra, the sector's main public financing program. “Being at this meeting is part of the listening strategy adopted since I arrived at the ministry. I listened attentively to all the interventions and I am aware of the challenges we will face in the coming months,” he stated. One of the points addressed by the sector was the limitation on credit for producers monitored by the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Forest by Satellite (Prodes). The system is used to calculate the annual rate of deforestation by clear-cutting in the Legal Amazon and other biomes. Agribusiness representatives highlighted that approximately 28% of producers who took out credit in the past may be impacted by the restriction, including cases where outstanding issues have already been resolved but still appear in the system due to the annual analysis methodology. As an alternative, Embrapa presented the TerraClass project, a tool focused on mapping land cover and land use in Brazilian biomes. Currently, the system covers the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, with plans to expand it to the entire national territory. The minister highlighted that the presence of the entire ministry's technical team reinforces the importance of dialogue with the sector. He also stated that the government is working on developing a robust Harvest Plan, but warned about the impacts of high interest rates on the viability of rural credit. 

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.