The signings of Crop Plan have already surpassed R$169 billion in almost 4 months of launch.
However, family farming producers report difficulties in hiring and releasing resources from National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Pronaf).
To date, of the R$60 billion released for financing by Pronaf, around R$22 billion have been raised by banks, according to a survey by agricultural policy advisory for the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers – Contag – next to the central bank.
Since the end of August, new contracts for Pronaf lines – investment and financing, with fixed interest rates of up to 6% per year – are suspended by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), due to the total commitment of available resources, according to a statement on the institution's website.
And the slowness in contracting rural credit by small producers has worried entities in the sector.
Worry
Union leaders are monitoring producers at the agencies and receiving confirmation from those responsible for the agricultural portfolio that no funds have yet been released.
“They confirmed that this year is being an atypical year in terms of the provision of rural credit. They are having difficulty releasing equalization of resources. There are producers who are unable to obtain insurance due to the non-release of resources. This discourages farmers, who are already being penalized by various climate and market issues,” he says. Marcio José Serenini, president of the Rural Workers Union of São Tomé, in Paraná.
Valdinei Franco He is a fruit and vegetable producer and has been in the activity for 12 years. For the first time, he needed to hire resources from Pronaf to invest in the activity, and he says that his visits to the financial agent are becoming more and more frequent and without success.
“There is money, but the funds are not released, they cannot release them to distribute to farmers. And we become increasingly discouraged because it is already difficult for us to work in this area, and we get there and waste time from work and go this and go that, we get a bit discouraged because every time we go, I lose count of how many times I go to the bank”, he laments.
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