Ministry signs contract to allocate US$200 million for Agricultural Defense

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply signed this Wednesday (4) the loan contract with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the Agricultural Defense Modernization and Strengthening Program (ProDefesa). The signing took place during a ceremony to celebrate the bank's 60th anniversary. 

The estimated cost of the program is US$200 million over the next five years, with US$195 million coming from a loan from the IDB and US$5 million from the federal government. The operation was authorized by the Federal Senate.

According to Minister Tereza Cristina, the program will allow Brazil to remain free of foot-and-mouth disease, increase the areas without classical swine fever (CSF) and without the star fruit fly. With these resources, animal and plant health services will also be restructured.

“I am very happy with this moment because one of the pillars of my management is precisely agricultural defense. Today, agriculture accounts for more than 40% of Brazilian exports and that is why we need to improve our international surveillance and speed up, through computerization, the release of goods, as well as inspections, registrations and authorizations. Simplify without making things precarious, as I always say, using technology to our advantage”, said the minister.

Of the total to be invested, the control and eradication of pests and diseases will receive US$ 137 million, improving the efficiency of agricultural defense services will receive US$ 23 million, and knowledge and innovation for agricultural defense will receive US$ 35 million . Additionally, the Ministry will contribute US$5 million to monitor and evaluate the projects.

The minister said that, in addition to Prodefesa, Mapa is preparing a Consultation Letter of IDB Support for the Plan AgroNortheast, aimed at including small and medium-sized producers in the Brazilian semi-arid region. She announced that the Ministry of Economy has already authorized the approval of the letter for March 2020.

Tereza Cristina recalled that the IDB is an important partner for Brazil in the dissemination of low-carbon agricultural technologies, such as Sustainable Rural Project, approved by the bank in 2013, which operated in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest, benefiting 25 thousand producers and reaching 46 thousand hectares.

The IDB representative in Brazil, Hugo Flórez Timorán, said that the signing of the loan contract is symbolic for the Bank's current situation, and highlighted that the IDB wants to continue being a strategic partner for Brazil. “For the coming years, we will continue to accompany the country in its efforts to increase the pace of productivity growth and thus consolidate its social gains,” he said.