Congress overturns Bolsonaro’s veto on aid of up to R$ 3,500 for farmers

This Friday (17th), the National Congress overturned the veto of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to the bill that creates aid of up to R$ 3,500 for family farmers harmed by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The veto on the proposal was overturned en bloc, after leaders reached an agreement on which vetoes would be maintained and which would be reversed. The vetoes were overturned by 55 votes to 0.

Approved in August, the proposal, called the Assis Carvalho Law, was vetoed in its entirety by Bolsonaro in September. In justification, the government stated that the measure could not enter into force because it did not present an estimate of the budgetary and financial impact.

In addition to the aid, the text provides for the creation of lines of rural credit for small family producers and an emergency food purchase program with donations to people in a food insecurity situation.

The text authorizes the Union to transfer up to R$ 3,500 per family of farmers benefiting from the Emergency Promotion of Rural Productive Inclusion.

Each family will receive R$2,500 in a single installment. In the case of women, the amount will be R$3,000. The benefit will reach R$ 3,500 for those who commit to projects that include the implementation of septic tanks and cisterns or other social technologies for accessing water for human consumption and food production.

The proposal also establishes the automatic granting of the Crop Guarantee to all family farmers eligible to receive it until December 31, 2022. For this, they must submit a technical municipal inspection report proving the loss of harvest.

Through the Garantia-Safra, the family farmer receives financial aid, for a fixed period, in case he loses his harvest due to drought or excessive rains. Farmers with a monthly income of up to one and a half minimum wages are entitled to receive the benefit when they experience production losses in their municipalities equal to or greater than 50%.

The project also creates the Emergency Promotion of Rural Productive Inclusion. To be entitled to the transfer, beneficiaries will need to commit to carrying out all the steps provided for in a simplified project for structuring the family unit that will be prepared by the technical assistance and rural extension service.

On another front, the project allows the CMN (National Monetary Council) to create lines of credit for family farmers and small milk producers at a rate of 0% per year. Interested parties will have until July 31, 2022 to apply for the loan. The installments can be paid in up to ten years.

The granting of the loan will depend on a simplified credit project prepared by a technical assistance and rural extension entity. The credit lines will contain a fixed timely bonus of R$300 to be granted at the beginning of the payment schedule, plus an additional 20% timely bonus on contracts signed by rural women workers.

The financing costs will come from the constitutional financing funds and also from the Union if the credit line is through interest subsidy (rate equalization).

The text also creates the Emergency Assistance Program for Family Farming, which will be operated by Conab (National Supply Company). Under the proposal, the company will buy food produced by farmers and donate it to people in a situation of food and nutritional insecurity or to receiving entities previously defined by the competent federal agency.

Per year, Conab may purchase up to R$6,000 per family unit or up to R$7,000 per family, if the beneficiary is a woman farmer. When the acquisition is made from a cooperative, the individual limits will be multiplied by the proven number of active members.

“The law is a response to the dismantling of Bolsonaro to the country’s agrarian policies. In addition to promoting food production in the context of family farming, generating jobs and income in the countryside, the initiative reduces the effects of the rise in food prices. the socioeconomic impacts of Covid19 in the countryside. Rural workers deserve respect,” said Senate minority leader Jean Paul Prates (PT – RN).