Brasília – Starting in July, the Brazilian government will provide 115.2 billion reals (US$ 55.6 billion) worth of credit to commercial agriculture in the 2012-2013 crop. The sum is 7.4% higher than that of the 2011-2012 cycle, which was 107.2 billion reals (US$ 51.7 billion). The 2012-2013 Agriculture and Livestock Plan will be announced by president Dilma Rousseff this Thursday (28th) at 10:00 am at the presidential palace (Palácio do Planalto).
This Tuesday (26th), the ministers of Finance, Guido Mantega, of Agriculture, Mendes Ribeiro Filho, and of Agrarian Development, Pepe Vargas, met with the president to set the final details of the plan.
The benchmark interest rate for the operations will be lowered from 6.75% to 5.5% per year. In addition to increasing the funds allotted to medium-sized farmers and cooperatives, a trend which started in the last crop, the commercial agriculture plan should also focus on incentives to organic farming.
The Family Farming Crop Plan (Plano Safra da Agricultura Familiar) will be launched next week, the 18 billion reals (US$ 8.6 billion) worth of credit to small farmers was announced in late May, during the event “Grito da Terra” (Earth’s Cry), which congregated agricultural organizations.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
