According to the latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Brazilian agribusiness exported US$ 148 billion in 2022 and, according to the head of the special advisory office for strategic matters at the Ministry of Agriculture, Guilherme Bastos, what is not consumed in Brazil is exported. Bastos was interviewed this Friday (23) on the program The Voice of Brazil.
“If there is a problem of people still experiencing food insecurity, it is a problem of the composition of a network of social programs that must access these people, but in terms of production we produce enough to supply the domestic market and also export. And if we export, it’s for a reason. It has a competitive price, which attracts the international market to buy our products, product quality, and with that we continue to access and open up more and more markets”, said Bastos.
China is the main market for Brazilian agricultural products, accounting for 1/3 of exports, and, according to Bastos, more than 200 markets were opened in over 50 countries.
Bastos also commented on the issue of sustainability in Brazilian agriculture. “The ministry has been working on tools so that you can promote this traceability within the production chains, we are also working with socio-environmental indicators, to make this available to society, so that certifications can be facilitated and enabled. This is not a process… People forget the continental dimension, not only of Brazil, but of our agriculture and livestock, so it is a process that has a cadence.”
He also highlighted the BRL 340 billion crop plan that was made available to Brazilian agriculture and livestock, 70% of which was destined for family farming. “This is very misunderstood, [com as pessoas] thinking it’s a public resource. Of this volume, what you have of public resources actually allocated is R$ 12.4 billion, which is exactly the volume of resources that goes to pay the difference between the market interest rate and the interest rate agreed in the Safra Plan”.
See the full interview here:
