The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Marcos Montes, said today (25) that the ministry is negotiating with the Ministry of Economy for the 2022/2023 Crop Plan to be 22.4% higher than the previous one. During a hearing at the Agriculture Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, the minister justified the increase by saying that “all prices have gone up”.
Based on the estimates presented at the hearing, Montes is negotiating the 2022/2023 Crop Plan, which covers the fiscal year from June 2022 to June 2023, of at least BRL 300 billion, with a further BRL 22 billion for interest rate equalization. “We are making a more robust Safra Plan,” said the minister. “Brazil is a big producer and will have to produce more”.
During the hearing, Montes also spoke about the blocked resources for the 2021/2022 Crop Plan and that will be unlocked.
“We were able, thanks initially to the approval of the PLN [Projetos de Lei do Congresso Nacional] 01, which released BRL 868 million, to unlock BRL 23 billion from the 21/22 crop plan, but with interest rates rising as they were, we still lagged and it was necessary, on Thursday of last week [19]a release of another R$ 1.2 billion to unlock the 2021/2022 crop plan, which is not yet unlocked”, he explained.
“We need the ministries to be notified of their budgets that have been modified and the federal government to be able to actually make them effective.” The minister said that he awaits the completion of this process to unlock the R$ 23 billion of the Sabra Plan 2021/2022, which will be destined mainly for family farming.
Montes also said that he wants at least R$2 billion for rural insurance, and that he would like the expense to be included as a permanent one in the Union Budget, which would reduce the possibility of cuts. He said, however, that it should only be done without exceeding fiscal limits.
