The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), Tereza Cristina, announced this Friday morning (8) in Cascavel (PR) that she will soon launch a new rural housing program. “We are going to sit down with Caixa Econômica, with the Ministry of Regional Development, to discuss this matter. In fact, this financing is simpler because the producer himself can build his house. The project already exists, within the Secretariat of Family Agriculture, but is being improved to reach a wider range of people”, he stated.
During an interview after visiting the Show Rural Coopavel fair in the city of Paraná, the minister spoke about commercial relations in the agribusiness sector with other countries. He commented that the political rapprochement with the United States “has nothing to do with our status as major trading partners of China, which every year adds more people to the consumer market”. He commented on the importance of closing more deals within South America and cited the example of Peru, “it is a country where we need to open a market for meat. We are working on this. Ultimately, we need to maintain the markets we have, but also open new ones for Brazilian products.”
Tereza Cristina spoke during the event about the negotiations she has been carrying out around rural insurance and agricultural credit, “something that greatly distresses producers. And today I was confirmed with R$ 1 billion as a proposal for the purchase of equipment negotiated during the fair. This shows confidence in the government and in the public policies that will be implemented”, he stated.
Regarding insurance, he noted “We already have insurance, but it still does not serve a larger mass of producers. We are carrying out some studies with Conab, with the Secretariat of Agricultural Policy, with financial institutions, to find a model. It took the United States 40 years to reach today's model. If there was bad weather and the farmer did not produce, the check arrives by mail. This is the world of dreams, which I have no intention of reaching in four years. But we can move forward.”
“If we no longer have money in the Treasury to equalize our rates, we need to find new alternatives. And in insurance it is possible to reduce the interest rate. Because if there is insurance, therefore, the risk is lower, and the interest rate should fall”, he stated.
The minister participated in the launch of new Embrapa technologies, such as new varieties of beans and a potassium meter, which allows checking the content at the planting site. Tereza Cristina highlighted the importance of innovation for the sector. “We have to have agriculture that is already in 5.0 (in which equipment gains greater autonomy). Yesterday, I received a company that has 10 thousand drones flying in China. This is the future of agriculture. We need to be aware of what’s going to happen.”
Source: Notícias Agrícolas | Author: MAPA
