This week, the president of the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA), João Martins, delivered to the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, a document with the entity's proposals for the Agricultural and Livestock Plan (PAP) 2024/2025. The material presents ten points considered priorities for the next Harvest Plan, focused on increasing financeable resources and volume for rural insurance.
Furthermore, other priorities are investment lines, the regulation of the law that created the Catastrophe Fund, the promotion of the capital market and private securities, among others. The document was created together with agriculture and livestock federations, rural unions, producers and sectoral entities, in meetings held with representatives from the North, Northeast, South, Southeast, Central-West and Matopiba regions (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia ).
In addition to the priority proposals, the document has 7 chapters: Introduction; Fundamental Guidelines for Strengthening Agricultural Policies; Rural credit; Family farming; Risk Management for Agricultural Activities; Commercialization and Capital Markets.
During the document delivery ceremony, the president of the entity stated that the Confederation is ready to contribute to the “construction of public policies that benefit rural producers”, and that it is necessary to treat Brazilian agriculture with “professionalism”.
Martins highlighted that the sector's main concern is regarding the volume of rural insurance resources. “Today, insurance is vital for sustaining Brazilian agriculture. We had serious weather problems in several regions, with consecutive crop losses,” he said.
Minister Carlos Fávaro thanked the president and the board of directors of the CNA for their work in touring Brazil and raising the “anxieties of rural producers” and said that the entity's proposals are "aligned" and "synchronized" with the priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture for the construction of a more assertive Harvest Plan.
Regarding rural insurance, Fávaro stated that he is working with the “Ministry of Finance to build more effective insurance that serves a wider scope of producers”.
At the opening of the document, the CNA highlighted that “in recent months, the agricultural sector has been facing a scenario of uncertainty and complexities in the face of climatic adversities resulting from El Niño” and that, despite the phenomenon being losing strength, “the negative impacts on productivity and production are already felt in several production chains, with emphasis on the two flagships of agricultural production, soybeans and corn”. Faced with this scenario, the CNA points to official projections of a significant drop in the volume produced in the 2023/2024 harvest, when compared to the previous one.
“Associated with climate challenges, projected reductions in the prices of agricultural products and the maintenance of production costs still at high levels, the obstacles faced by rural producers increase, compromising the sector's gross margins, which puts the economic viability of many agricultural activities”, says the CNA in the introduction to the document.
“In this context of climate adversities and tight margins, the role of rural insurance emerges as a fundamental instrument to mitigate the risks inherent to agricultural activity. However, the insufficiency of resources allocated to subsidizing rural insurance premiums worsens the situation, putting the financial security of producers at risk”, warns the entity.
For the Confederation, over the last year, Brazilian agriculture has suffered from a lack of resources for subsidizing the Rural Insurance Premium Subsidy Program (PSR), resulting in a second consecutive year of reduction in the area covered, after the record coverage in 2021. “Last year, the area covered with the program's resources was only 6,3 million hectares, totaling, with the policies that were unable to adhere to the PSR, 11,4 million hectares”.
Faced with this challenging panorama, continues the CNA, “it is essential to reevaluate the available agricultural policy instruments, such as rural credit, rural insurance and the minimum price guarantee policy, in order to structure strategic actions that can mitigate the negative impacts of the climate and the market on the agricultural sector, guaranteeing the producer’s permanence in the activity and the food supply to the population”.
“This document meets these needs and prioritizations, presenting the proposals of the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA) for the Agricultural and Livestock Plan 2024/2025, based on a careful analysis of the economic-financial context and the pressing needs of agriculture. . Assertive measures and well-founded strategies will help the sector in overcoming these challenges, promoting sustainable development and the resilience of food production in the face of adversities, whether market or climate-related.”
Among the ten proposals released, the CNA highlights in the document the guarantee of supplementation of R$2,1 billion to the Rural Insurance Premium Subsidy Program (PSR) in 2024 (totaling R$3 billion) and R$4 billion for 2025 .
The entity also proposes R$570 billion in financeable resources from the PAP, with R$359 billion for funding and marketing, R$111 billion for investments and R$100 billion for family farming. The Confederation defends the guarantee that the announced resources are available throughout the harvest.
The Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA) highlights the priority proposals for the 2024/2025 Harvest Plan from the perspective of rural producers:
1. Guarantee supplementation of R$2,1 billion to Rural Insurance in 2024 (totaling R$3 billion) and R$4 billion for 2025.
2. Make R$570 billion available in financeable resources from the PAP 2024/2025, with R$359 billion for funding and marketing, R$111 billion for investments and R$100 billion for family farming. Ensuring that the announced resources are available throughout the harvest.
3. Prioritize resources for investment purposes, mainly for small and medium-sized producers (Pronaf and Pronamp) and programs for the construction of warehouses (PCA), irrigation (Proirriga), technological innovations (Inovagro) and for Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems ( Renovagro).
4. Strengthen the budget for Official Credit Operations (OOC), especially subsidies to support prices and marketing and funding.
5. Promote regulatory measures to expand sources of rural credit resources, through measures that make the application of rural credit requirements more flexible.
6. Regulate Complementary Law No. 137/2020, which created the Catastrophe Fund.
7. Make it possible to rebate fees or increase the financeable limit for producers who promote socio-environmental practices.
8. Promote adjustments to avoid excesses and distortions in the interpretation of resolutions, such as CMN Resolution No. 5.081/2023 and BCB Resolution No. 140/2021, which deal with socio-environmental issues, without compromising compliance with environmental preservation.
9. Promote the advancement of the capital market and private agribusiness securities, making it possible to increase funding for the sector.
10. Curb tying practices and enable the reduction of ancillary costs of rural credit, especially through regulation and modernization of the registration market.
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