Those affected by natural disasters in Acre have until May 31st to renegotiate debts

Rural producers in Acre who were affected by bad weather or a drop in agricultural prices will be able to renegotiate rural credit debts for investments. The measure is a proposal from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), supported by the Ministry of Finance (MF), and approved by the National Monetary Council (CMN), in March. The measure applies to all regions and the deadline for renegotiation is May 31st.

Farmers from the South, Southeast, Central-West and North regions will be included. In the states of Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, Acre, Amapá, Amazonas and Tocantins, for example, beef cattle farming activities may be renegotiated.

With the initiative, financial institutions will be able to postpone or pay in installments debts that will mature in 2024. In this context, the contracted operations must be in compliance by December 30, 2023.

The resolution was necessary given the fact that, in the 2023/2024 harvest, the climate behavior in the main producing regions negatively affected some crops, reducing productivity in specific locations. Furthermore, rural producers have also faced difficulties with falling prices in light of the global scenario.

The authorized renegotiation covers investment operations whose installments due in 2024 could reach the value of R$20.8 billion in equalized resources, R$6.3 billion in resources from constitutional funds and R$1.1 billion in mandatory resources.

If all installments of operations falling within the criteria of the resolution approved by the CMN are extended, the cost will be R$3.2 billion, distributed between the years 2024 and 2030, half of which will go to family farming and half to corporate farming. The effective cost will be deducted from the amounts to be allocated to equalize rates for the 2024/2025 harvest plans.

The productive activities and states that will be impacted by the measure are soybean, corn and beef cattle production: Goiás and Mato Grosso; meat and milk cattle farming: Minas Gerais; soy, corn and dairy cattle: São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; beef cattle farming: Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, Acre, Amapá, Amazonas and Tocantins; soy, corn and dairy and meat cattle farming: Mato Grosso do Sul; dairy cattle farming: Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

To qualify, the financing must be supported by the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Pronaf), the National Support Program for Medium Rural Producers (Pronamp) and other rural investment programs of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), as well as the rural investment lines of constitutional funds.