Union announces first actions for rice farmers affected by floods

Rice producers from the Western Border and the Central Depression met this Wednesday, January 6th, in the Rio Grande do Sul municipalities of Uruguaiana and Santa Maria, with the Minister of National Integration, Gilberto Occhi, and the Secretary of Agricultural Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, André Nassar, to bring to representatives of the federal government the problems caused by the rains at the end of 2015 and which affected grain production.

According to the president of the Federation of Rice Growers Associations of Rio Grande do Sul (Federarroz), Henrique Dornelles, a new agenda will be set to define general actions. "We need to better quantify the losses, as many crops are still submerged and it is necessary to know what will be lost and the Ministry only acts after the harvest numbers mature", he highlights.

The good news, according to the director, was that the Ministry of Agriculture will manage, together with financial agents, especially Banco do Brasil and Caixa Federal, the need for investment and availability of resources for the commercialization of the new harvest. "In addition, it will work on the availability of pre-funding with the aim of ensuring prices during the full harvest and providing conditions to mitigate not only losses but also the decrease in productivity", says Dornelles.

The partial numbers delivered by the Rio Grandense do Arroz Institute (Irga) during the meeting project that losses are 15% in the production of the 2015/2016 harvest due to a combination of factors such as delay in planting, losses caused by excessive rain combined with management deficiency. Of an intended area of ​​1.083.638 hectares, 11,9% - corresponding to 126.478 hectares - were affected by floods, totaling 1.858 crops in Rio Grande do Sul.

In addition to concerns about crops, the reconstruction of roads to transport production was also discussed at the meeting. Dornelles recalls that in 60 days the transport will begin not only of rice, but also of soybeans and corn, and that many local roads suffered from the rains, in addition to the collapse of asphalt and bridges at some key points for transporting the harvest. "This is cost and lost production", he highlights.

At the meeting, Secretary Nassar told producers that the Ministry of Agriculture will undergo a restructuring of its portfolio in 2016, especially in programs such as agricultural insurance. He informed that the Minister of Agriculture, Kátia Abreu, has the ambition to increase the scope of agricultural insurance and that a significant volume of resources for the subsidy for the next period is already in the budget.