Environment: Government to turn US$ 52 million to forestry

Sep 21 2008

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply announced on Friday (19) that it is going to turn 100 million reals (US$ 52 million) to the forestry sector by the end of the year. Of this total, 43 million reals (US$ 22.4 million) had been made available from January to August. The volume was part of the Program for Commercial Cultivation and Recovery of Forests (Propflora).
Last year the ministry turned 52 million reals (US$ 27 million) to the program, which is part of the rural credit. In 2007 the forestry sector received a total of 573 million reals (US$ 299 million) in rural credit, which includes financing in the agricultural sector by public and private institutions.
According to the ministry, a proposal is being elaborated for the financing of the forestry sector and the creation of papers that may be issued in favour of any creditor. The general coordinator for Livestock and Permanent Cultures at the ministry, João Antônio Fagundes Salomão, pointed out that the sector needs different treatment, as the cycle of forestry culture may vary from five to 35 years.
"What would be ideal would be a paper targeting these specifics, such as, for example, long-term for payment, and liberation of the credit in tranches, factors that simplify the payment schedule of farmers. We have already discussed the matter at the Silviculture Sector Chamber and the next step should be evaluation of the proposal by the legal consultancy at the ministry, and elaboration of a Bill for appreciation by the National Congress," stated Salomão, according to a ministry press statement.
Still according to the statement, figures by the Brazilian Association of Planted Forest Producers (Abraf) show that there are 5.5 million hectares of planted forests in Brazil. Last year, sector exports, which include pulp, paper, wood and wooden product industries, generated US$ 6 billion. The productive chain generates 4.5 million jobs in the country.

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