Paraná presents proposals for the 2024-25 Harvest Plan to the Ministry of Agriculture

The Secretary of Agricultural Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Neri Geller, participated in a meeting at the headquarters of the Ocepar System, in Curitiba, to debate the 2024/2025 Harvest Plan. “We want to make a great Safra Plan again,” he said, adding that he is aware that progress needs to be made, especially in relation to the budget and the reduction in interest rates. The meeting was broadcast on the Microsoft Teams platform, totaling around 250 participants.  

The event was organized by Sistema Ocepar, in partnership with the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of Paraná (Seab), Federation of Agriculture of Paraná (Faep) and Federation of Agricultural Workers and Family Farmers (Fetaep). 

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According to Geller, the sector effectively needs to return to its origins to face future difficulties. “The strategy we are going to adopt is to recover the budget. There is no way to make agricultural policy without a budget,” he declared. He recalled that in 2013 and 2014 the federal government allocated around R$11 billion to the sector. “Since then, the cultivated area has grown by around 30% to 40%, production has doubled, production costs have tripled, while the budget has fallen by half. Last year, with a lot of effort, we reached R$5 billion”, he compared.  

The president of Sistema Ocepar, José Roberto Ricken, who coordinated the meeting, said that the Safra Plan is eagerly awaited by the rural sector. “We need to reestablish the planting condition so that we can have a spectacular harvest this year, after the frustration of the last harvest,” he declared, referring to the crop failure, which in the case of Paraná reached 21% due to weather problems.  

During the meeting, Ocepar's Technical and Economic Development manager, Flávio Turra, presented the 2024/2025 Harvest Plan proposal to secretary Neri Geller. The document, prepared jointly by entities representing agribusiness – Faep, Fetaep, Sistema Ocepar and Seab – has already been sent to the ministries of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) and Agrarian Development (MDA) on March 8th. Representatives from all entities participated in the meeting.  

The main points requested by Paraná, which are included in the document presented to the secretary, are: a 30% increase in the volume of credit, going from R$435 billion in the last harvest to R$568 billion for 2024/2025; interest reduction in all programs, extension of farmers' debts, priority in investments for the Warehouse Construction Program (PCA), among others.  

Convergence 

After listening to Paraná's proposal, Geller committed to working to make the requests viable, but warned about the need for involvement of the state's agricultural leaders, especially in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the National Congress. “The negotiations regarding the Safra Plan will be conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, but the decision passes through the Treasury and the Legislature”, he pointed out.   

The Secretary of Agriculture of Paraná highlighted that the moment is very different from what was the year 2023. "This year is atypical. The scenario is one of losses and falling prices, which will require a lot of tact and a lot of care", noted the Secretary of Agriculture of Paraná, Norberto Ortigara, adding that “we need to have the best harvest plan in the country’s history”. 

Representing the Faep board, economist Jefrey Albers recalled that Paraná is one of the largest rural credit contractors and that the proposals presented by the state related to the Harvest Plan are respected in Brasília. Albers drew attention to the difficulties in accessing credit due to the lack of analysis of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR). “It is not enough to have the resource available to the farmer, it is necessary to make access viable”, he pointed out.  

pronaf 

The president of Fetaep, Alexandre Leal, drew attention to the fact that a large number of family farmers are still unable to access credit from the National Family Farming Program (Pronaf). “We need to get more people to access the program. There is a visible difference in the field between those who have access to Pronaf and those who do not. And it is not possible to talk about the advancement of family farming without this program”, he reinforced. The meeting was also attended by representatives from OCB, Banco do Brasil, BRDE and IDR.