Farmers in Rio Grande do Sul will have a 25% discount on Pronaf installments

The federal government announced this Tuesday (16) support of R$ 230 million for about 36 thousand families of farmers in Rio Grande do Sul who took out loans from the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Pronaf) and are having difficulty remove the installments. The measure is contained in a decree signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and will apply in the form of a 25% discount on all installments due and due, from January to December of this year.

The support was a demand from farmers in Rio Grande do Sul who do not have rural insurance, after the third consecutive year of drought in the state. The text of the decree will be published in the Official Diary of the Union (DOU).

“Farmers who work in dairy farming, they do not have agricultural insurance, it is very difficult to obtain agricultural insurance (in this activity), and President Lula is giving a discount on overdue installments, those that are due and those that will expire, from 25 %, totaling R$ 230 million”, detailed the Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, after meeting with the president at the Planalto Palace, in Brasília. Farmers who have Proagro Insurance are not covered precisely because the insurance already covers losses.

According to the minister, the amount of the discount will be funded by the federal government through a budget shift and has already been agreed with the five banking institutions that are responsible for the operations. The discount on the value of the installments is up to R$ 12,000 per operation, informed the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (MDA).

In February, a delegation of ministers visited Rio Grande do Sul and announced the release of R$ 430 million to combat the effects of the drought that in about 300 municipalities in the state for the third consecutive harvest. The resources were used to purchase drinking water, food and equipment, and adopt other emergency measures.

permanent program

In addition to the discount, the federal government announced the structuring of a drought coexistence program in the state, which has become recurrent. The idea is to have a range of public policies previously prepared for the moment of crisis.

“Very possibly, we will continue to live with the drought. We are preparing, in the federal government, a permanent policy for people to live with the drought, (but) not with the suffering. Having a reserved budget, making investments, works so that we can reserve water when it rains. Let’s make this prediction beforehand, act in advance, so that when the drought arrives the effects are not so dramatic”, explained the president of the National Supply Company (Conab), Edegar Pretto.

seated

Minister Paulo Teixeira also announced that land reform settlers in the state will have access to installation credit and development credit lines.

In a note, the MDA informed that the amount released is R$ 300 million, of which R$ 50 million for the installation credit (2nd installment), for 10,000 settled families, of which R$ 5,000 per family and a 90% discount. Another R$ 250 million will be allocated to Rural Productive Microcredit for up to 40,000 more vulnerable family farmers, with annual income of up to R$ 23,000. The loan is for up to R$6,000 at an interest rate of 0.5% per annum, with a 25% non-default bonus and a two-year repayment period.

According to the federal government, the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS) allocated BRL 24 million to low-income families in the region, with a payment of up to BRL 2.4 thousand to families of small farmers registered in the Rural Development program.