Meeting in Lajeado discusses emergency actions for farmers affected by floods in RS

Discuss emergency relief actions for family farmers and ranchers affected by the flood in the Serra, Vale do Taquari and Rio Pardo regions: this was the objective of a meeting held today (12/09), at the Lajeado City Council. Organized by the Gaucha Agricultural Parliamentary Front – represented at the time by state deputy Elton Weber -, the meeting brought together leaders, managers and representatives of entities and farmers to understand what are the most emergency demands with regard to losses in the primary sector.

As a result of the debate, a document was generated, which should be forwarded to the Federal and State governments, and which aims to request support on issues ranging from the reconstruction of rural infrastructure, through the development of agile public policies and emergency credits, until reaching to possible amnesties or extensions of grace periods for paying off financing.

“In the State, a preliminary survey by Emater shows that a productive area of ​​68 thousand hectares was affected by these floods, which gives an idea of ​​the scale of the losses involved, not to mention other issues”, noted the Secretary of Rural Development (SDR) of the State Government, Ronaldo Santini. 

Going forward, the idea is to think about policies that extend debts, suspend payments – in the case of Pronaf lines – or even amnesty debts, commented Santini, who also suggested the creation of a kind of fund for the prevention of catastrophes.

Discover some of the demands in the preliminary document:

1 - Immediate suspension of all Rural Credit operations (funding, investment, land credits), which mature in the next 180 days, contracted by farmers and ranchers affected by severe weather (cyclone);

2 - Amnesty for funding and investment operations, not covered by agricultural insurance, such as Proagro;

3 - Renegotiation of funding and investment debts contracted by farmers and ranchers, affected by the climate phenomenon;

4 - Emergency credit line for the recovery of the production unit (soil, machinery and equipment, reconstruction of warehouses, pigsties, poultry houses, greenhouses, etc.), with a payment period of ten years, a three-year grace period, interest-free and with a payment bonus in value to be defined;

5 – Inclusion of rural families who lost their homes in housing policies aimed at rebuilding affected housing units, based on criteria that are in accordance with the public calamity request;

6 – Non-refundable credit line, for the purchase of furniture and household items lost in the cyclone, based on the FGTS emergency withdrawal value (currently set at R$ 6.200,00);

7 – Resources for the recovery of local roads, bridges and bridges, to allow the flow of production and movement between rural properties.

Other topics must still be included in the report, which should be delivered this week by the Gaucha Agricultural Parliamentary Front to the Federal and State governments.