Under Lula, Conab promises to resume food stocks against inflation

State deputy Edeger Pretto (PT-RS) was announced this Friday (6) for the presidency of Cobab (National Supply Company) and stated that the company will resume public food stocks to combat hunger and stabilize prices. .

“During the last government, these policies were abandoned and this contributed enormously to the increase in the price of basic basket products. We have to face food inflation. We need to put an end to this logic that a large part of Brazilian workers are going into debt to buy food,” he said.

Public food stocks are already Conab’s responsibility, but were practically emptied during the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

“Our government worked on the following logic. When the price of products dropped a lot, Conab bought. Wheat, rice, beans, among other products, so that the farmer who was producing would not have such a big loss”, recalled Pretto.

“In the same way, these foodstuffs were stored so that, when prices rose, the government would put them on the market, bringing prices down. That way everyone won”, he added, saying that the government needs to say loud and clear that it will be the greatest family farming customer.

With the recreation of the MDA (Ministry of Agrarian Development), the company became a reason for dispute between the portfolio holder, Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP), and Mapa (Ministry of Agriculture), led by Carlos Fávaro (PSD-MT). .

As soon as his name was announced for Agriculture, Fávaro told the Sheet that Conab would be under the umbrella of the MDA “for the moment”, but that he would defend the company’s transformation into an information agency that could supply all ministries.

Teixeira, on the other hand, rejected the idea of ​​”shared management” when he took office. This Friday, the Minister of Agrarian Development said that he spoke with Fávaro the day before, and said that the matter was pacified.

“Yesterday we talked about the idea of ​​having a large area devoted to agricultural intelligence. [Com] ability to predict the size of the harvest, weather phenomena”, said Teixeira about the idea of ​​the Minister of Agriculture.

“There [Conab] there will be an intelligence area, but also focused on agriculture, agribusiness, stock regulation. We want a strong Conab, with good dialogue between Agriculture and MDA so that we can respond to the Brazilian population.”

The minister said that the federal government is still preparing the plan to combat hunger, and did not give details about the food that will be purchased. Teixeira also did not clarify whether the company will stock meat.

Experts are divided on the regulatory stocks of food, which have been reduced in recent years and which aim to increase the supply of products in periods of high prices.

“Inventories are an important supply stabilization policy […]. They would bring more regularity, but it is necessary to invest in storage, silos, transport”, said Fábio Astrauskas, from Siegen Consultoria, in a recent interview.

André Braz, from FGV Ibre (Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getulio Vargas Foundation), said that the formation of inventories “does not work miracles and only reduces the volatility” of prices. “Are they welcome? They are very welcome. But they don’t work a miracle if the prices of inputs rise a lot”, he also stated in a recent interview.