Brasília – The Brazilian minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes, stated today (16th) that the targets for reducing agriculture-related emissions of greenhouse gases, to be presented by the Brazilian government at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15), due December in Copenhagen (Denmark), are going to be attained by increasing the use of technologies already adopted in the country.
“In agriculture, we are not going to use off-the-shelf technology. There are several examples of technologies that have already been thoroughly tested, and which may now be put to use on a larger scale,” said Stephanes, after attending the Thematic Chamber of Agricultural Inputs at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Among the technologies for reducing emissions, the minister underscored direct planting. According to him, the mechanism has been in use for 30 years now. “Of course, the technology’s quality needs to be improved so as to increase profitability for farmers and productivity, but the goals that we are bringing to the COP-15 account for that. That has been calculated.”
Stephanes claimed, however, that in order to attain the goal of reducing agriculture-related emissions of greenhouse gases by 4.9% to 6.1% by 2020, which has been set by the government, there must be an expansion of credit, and improvements in technical assistance and financing. “There must be more lines of financing that reward those who effectively adopt the technology,” he stated.
With regard to the extension of the deadline, which is currently December 11th, as provided for in the Decree # 6,514, for the sanctions to become effective against farmers whose properties do not include the reserves required by law, the minister denied that president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is going to make an announcement this week.
According to Stephanes, a meeting should be held between the president and the ministers of Environment, Agrarian Development and Agriculture to discuss the main points.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
