The 2024/25 Harvest Plan, aimed at agribusiness entrepreneurs, was made official on Wednesday afternoon (3) in a ceremony at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia. This year, there will be BRL 400.59 billion (US$ 71,7 billion) in credit, which represents a 10% increase compared with the amount allocated for the previous harvest.
Entrepreneurs will also have another BRL 108 billion (more than US$ 19,7 billion) available in Agribusiness Credit Bills (LCA, in Portuguese) for the issuance of Rural Product Notes (CPR, in Portuguese), totaling BRL 508.59 billion (more than US$ 92,8 billion) for the national agribusiness sector. According to Minister of Agriculture Carlos Fávaro, this represents a 40% increase on the last year of the previous government.
The plan includes 13 programs focusing on innovation and modernization of food production. During the event, President Lula said he was happy with the government's achievements in agriculture and criticized the previous administration of Jair Bolsonaro.
"We are rebuilding the country. And I have said: we received a country destroyed, full of ticks, full of weeds. We had to clear the land and manage it. We had to do the necessary things. We sowed, fertilized, dug and planted. Now it's time to harvest," said Lula, who also said he didn't mind the negative response of the agribusiness sector to his government's initiatives.
"I've never cared, I've never taken political differences into account. When you are responsible for governing a country, you don't govern a country ideologically," said the president.
"And I have no worries about saying to any agricultural entrepreneur here: It was during my administration and that of Dilma Rousseff that the biggest Harvest Plans of the country were launched," he declared.
"Let's be frank. It isn’t landless workers who take your land but banks," said the president.
The Minister of Agriculture commented on the political opposition the government faces in the agribusiness sector. "We're not here taking part in a sympathy contest. We're here working to make Brazil work," said Fávaro.
He praised the role of foreign affairs and Itamaraty [Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs] in opening up markets for the agricultural sector. "Foreign affairs have changed in the last 18 months. It’s an indisputable fact how much we've evolved in this area," he said
"New markets have opened up, and it happens every day. That's impressive! 152 new markets for [Brazilian] agricultural products opened up in one year and six months. 51 countries with which we had no trade relations are now available to do business," said the minister.
Edited by: Martina Medina
