The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) launched a platform that allows anonymous complaints to be made about the practice of tying in rural credit contracts.
Prohibited by the Consumer Protection Code, tying occurs when the rural producer goes to the financial institution in search of rural credit and has the release of the money conditioned on the acquisition of other products such as insurance, capitalization bonds or consortiums.
For the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, tied sales make credit more expensive for producers, impact income and sometimes make the federal government's effort to offer subsidized interest unfeasible.
“Information often arrived that the interest rate subsidized by the government for agricultural costs and investments had practically doubled. This practice needs to be curbed, and there needs to be political will”, said the minister during the launch of the platform.
Anonymity
Tereza Cristina highlighted that complaints are essential to curb the problem and added that the platform represents an incentive, by allowing complaints to be made anonymously.
“Today, rural producers no longer run the risk of filing a complaint. He can be sure that he will make a report with absolute confidentiality, and will not be identified. Only then will we be able to act so that this abusive practice ends once and for all in the country,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, each year around two million official rural credit operations are contracted, and many producers report cases of tied sales to release agricultural financing.
In October last year, Mapa had already signed a technical cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and trade associations to curb tying when contracting agricultural credit at banks.
When accessing the platform, the producer is guided with information about tying and the procedures to protect themselves and complain.
Among other guidelines, the ministry highlights the importance of keeping documents that prove the tied sale, such as financing contracts, bank statements, negotiation documents and requests for clarification of the denial of credit granting.
In addition, there is a list of items that the bank can legally require when contracting rural credit.
Anyone who accesses the platform needs to fill out a form with 12 questions about the irregularities found when contracting rural credit, which range from the offer of other products to reprisals from the financial institution due to a complaint.
Rural producers who have questions about the subject can send a message to Whatsapp (61) 99840-9079 or to the email sadj.spa@agricultura.gov.br.
Several organizations linked to producers support the Mapa initiative, including the National Confederation of Rural Workers and Family Farmers (Contag), the National Confederation of Workers in Family Agriculture of Brazil (Contraf Brasil) and the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban ).
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