Rice sector presents crop problems to the President of the Republic

Rice sector leaders met with the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasília (DF). On the agenda, the bottlenecks inherent to rice farming in Rio Grande do Sul. The head of the federal executive heard the problems that have been mentioned for years by farmers, such as rising costs, debt and Mercosur asymmetries.

The president of the Federation of Rice Growers Associations of Rio Grande do Sul (Federarroz), Alexandre Velho, considered the meeting positive in the sense that entities such as Federarroz, Farsul and Fetag, united around the same objective, in seeking solutions for farming rice producer, managed to put very clearly to the president and Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina, the context of the situation that the rice chain faces. “I also made it very clear that in addition to finding a solution to the debt, we have to face the structural issue of rice, that is, seek income for the activity. So it is very important that we have a grace period until we start paying this debt so that we can face issues such as tax reform, which could help lower rice production costs”, he highlighted.

Velho informed that the matter is at the top level of government and the referral will be made between the president himself, by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, and the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina. “President Bolsonaro was very clear that the rice situation was unsustainable, he said he was in a hurry to try to find a solution and would immediately call the Ministers of Economy and Agriculture to find a solution together”, he noted. 

The Minister of Agriculture reported on the conversations with Federarroz, saying that she had already been building some alternatives for the rice farming chain with the entity. “We left Brasília a little more hopeful that the real reasons for the lack of income from farming will really be addressed and a solution to the debt will be found”, highlighted the president of Federarroz.

Also participating in the meeting were the presidents of Farsul, Gedeão Pereira, of Fetag/RS, Carlos Joel da Silva, Marcos Montes, deputy at the Ministry of Agriculture, federal deputies Afonso Hamm (Progressistas/RS), Alceu Moreira (MDB/RS), Jerônimo Goergen (Progressistas/RS), in addition to senator Luiz Carlos Heinze (Progressistas/RS) and the mayors of Tapes, Sílvio Rafaeli, and Mário Augusto Gonçalves, from Dom Pedrito.