At a meeting of the National Council for Agroecology and Organic Production (CNAPO, in Portuguese) held on Thursday afternoon (18) at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, popular movements and agroecology organizations questioned the federal government's lack of priority for the production of healthy food.
Criticism emerged after yet another postponement of the announcement of the National Plan for Agroecology and Organic Production (Planapo, in Portuguese), which was scheduled to be launched on Thursday (18). The ceremony was suspended due to the refusal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA, in Portuguese) to accept the inclusion of the National Program for the Reduction of Pesticides (PRONARA, in Portuguese) into the scope of the Planapo.
Paulo Petersen, the executive coordinator of the Brazilian NGO AS-PTA Family Farming and Agroecology and a member of the Executive Nucleus of the National Articulation of Agroecology (ANA, in Portuguese), complained about the ministry’s intransigent stance.
“We had a plan ready to be launched, but the Ministry of Agriculture said it wouldn't sign off on it. And it was said after talks in various democratic spaces in which the program was built, including with technicians from MAPA,” he said, showing his indignation at the impasse. “The ministry’s stance is incomprehensible,” he lamented.
Cássio Trovatto, general coordinator for Agroecological Transition at the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA, in Portuguese), highlighted the unprecedented radical stance MAPA took regarding Pronara, which is said to have astonished the members of the Interministerial Chamber on Organic Agriculture and Production (CIAPO, in Portuguese), a group that brings together 14 ministries and nine other federal agencies.
“Everyone was astonished by the situation. First because we were dealing with an unprecedented situation. The other two previous plans intended to establish the National Program to Reduce the Use of Pesticides. This time, we're not being able to launch Planapo because there's an early refusal from a ministry regarding this initiative,” he explained.
Priority in words, but not in practice
Paulo Petersen questioned the government's priorities regarding the Agroecology agenda. “This episode reveals something broader, which is the fact that an agroecology policy [in Brazil] was a great achievement and is linked to the government’s priorities. However, we don't see any relation between this priority and the lack of support for the national agroecology policy in its spaces,” he said.
“There is a contradiction between the rhetoric of prioritizing these agendas and, on the other hand, how fragile they are, despite democratically dealing with society," he said, stressing the emptying of the Agroecology Council by government representatives.
The representative of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB, in Portuguese), Jairã Silva, talked about his disappointment at the obstacle imposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and demanded authorities change their stance.
“How does Brazil want to host a G20 summit, a COP summit, become the world's main leader in the fight against hunger, control the climate emergency and have talks with other countries, if it is the country that has become a chemical backyard for companies that produce poison?” he questioned, recalling that, in his community, there are serious cases of contamination due to the irregular use of pesticides by rural producers in the region.
CNAPO meeting at the Planalto Palace, Brasilia / Leonardo Fernandes
Agroecological transition at risk
Fran Paula, a representative of the Permanent Campaign Against Pesticides and For Life, defended Pronara’s importance for advancing the agroecological transition in Brazil. “It [Pronara] represents an important milestone for society and a stance for the state regarding its responsibility and commitment to healthy food,” she said.
She was also surprised by the ministry’s intervention in a proposal to promote organic and agroecological production. “The Ministry of Agriculture is one of the main allies of agribusiness in Brazil. This also reflects the interests of this sector and the multinationals that produce pesticides. What we didn't expect was that, in the context of building a national policy for agroecology and organic production, we [would have to] deal with an impediment and move by the ministry to oppose the approval of a program to reduce pesticides,” he said.
In the same vein, Laércio Meireles, from the Ecovida Agroecology Network, was emphatic in stating that “there is no room” in Pronara and Planapo for forces opposed to the agroecological transition in the CNAPO. “We are among comrades, comrades who want to promote agroecology. There's no room here for those who want to, let's say, spoil the idea, who are here just to say: 'let's see if we can stop them from moving forward',” he said, referring to the ministry’s representatives on the council.
Recommendations
The representative of the National Articulation of Agroecology at CNAPA, Flávia Londres, told the other people attending the meeting about the guidelines that should be followed to continue talks about launching Planapo with the inclusion of PRONARA.
They include the continuation of CNAPO’s activities and the creation of a special subcommittee to debate the issue. The organizations also set a deadline – the second half of August – for launching Planapo and holding an inter-ministerial seminar on pesticides, which should take place during an extraordinary meeting of CNAPO, yet to be scheduled.
“It doesn't make sense for us to debate a national agroecology plan that doesn't talk about reducing pesticide use,” he said. “We will continue working to launch Planapo and Pronara,” she said.
For her part, the director of Innovation for Family Production and Agroecological Transition at the MDA, Vivian Libório, said that an extraordinary meeting of the Interministerial Chamber for Agroecology and Organic Production will be called to discuss the issue internally within the government and try to reach an understanding between the ministries.
“Launching a Planapo without meeting society's demands would be a big mistake. So our starting point needs to be concrete demands. We don't believe in public policy without addressing society’s needs,” he said.
Brasil de Fato contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, but had not received a response by the time this news story was published. In case of a response, it will be updated.
Edited by: Martina Medina
