The idea, according to information supplied by the Embrapa, is for professionals at the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) to come to Brazil and study agricultural technologies, especially in the area of integration between agriculture and livestock.

Embrapa usually offers this type of training to other countries by means of international agreements. The Sudanese delegation that came to Brazil was comprised of the person in charge of the Sudan Agriculture Revitalization Program, Ahmed All Geneif, the international foreign relations director at the ARC, Babiker El Hag Mousa, and the executive at agricultural company Zeidab International, Khalid Omar El Sheikh.

The group visited two units of Embrapa, in the Federal District: Embrapa Cerrados (for the Savannah) and Embrapa Hortaliças (for Vegetables).

According to the researcher at Embrapa Cerrados, Roberto Teixeira Alves, the type of integration between agriculture and animal husbandry that appealed to the Sudanese is crop rotation of pasture and grain.

The aim is to recover old grazing land. Embrapa recommends that every three years, part of the grazing land should be farmed with other cultures such as corn, sorghum, rice, millet, soy and bean. The idea is for parts of the land to gradually receive rotation, until it spans the entire grazing area.

Alves explains that remote sensing also attracted the interest of the Sudanese group. The system uses satellite images to monitor the country's native vegetation and production areas. According to Alves, every existing biome in Brazil is currently mapped out.

Thus, claims the researcher, it is possible to make a rational plan for using the land. By means of the system, it is possible to know, for instance, how much land can be used for production while ensuring the maintenance of native vegetation areas.

According to the researcher, the exchange program was not defined. This type of cooperation usually involves the research institution's international section, as well as other government organizations.

Demand for international training from Embrapa, however, is on the rise, as it is a federal government policy. At Embrapa Hortaliças, for example, the group sought information on production, research, technology transfer and the seed market.

The mission's schedule in Brazil was organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. The aim of the delegation was to identify possibilities for partnerships in the agricultural field. The Sudanese ARC is based in Khartoum and has existed since 1902. The company does research in 24 different areas, especially wheat, rice, sunflowers, sorghum, corn and cotton.

Approximately 30% of the Sudanese economy is linked to the agricultural sector. The segment answers to 80% of job generation in the country. Agricultural production in Sudan is basically comprised of cotton, peanut, sorghum, corn, wheat, Arabic gum, sugarcane, cassava, mango, papaya, banana, sweet pea and sesame.

The country also farms sheep and cattle. Despite the relevance of agriculture, Sudan made oil discoveries in recent years, thus increasing its investment and revenues in the sector.

Anba

With this expansion of the credit and other incentive measures to agricultural activity, the government wants to make use of the global food crisis and, simultaneously, to reduce agricultural products' inflationary pressures. The Crop Plan should generate for the next crop an increase of at least 6% in national production of grain, which this year should reach 144 million tons.

According to economist Eugênio Stephanello, who is also a technician in the National Food Supply Company (Conab), the government believes that the food offer shock, associated to the continued process of higher benchmark interest rates, should bring inflation in to the center of the 4.5% target for next year.

"The new crop begins in September and, until then, resources for cultivation and trade will not be lacking," guaranteed Stephanello.

The 78 billion reais of the new Crop Plan represent an increase of 9 billion reais (US$ 5.6 billion) over the previous plan. Of this total, the president of Brazil should tell the one thousand plus farmers to participate in the plan's launching ceremony, to take place on the campus of Positivo University, that the funds turned to the so-called "business farming", including equalization of interest on rural loans, should reach 65 billion reais (US$ 40.5 billion). That is, 7 billion reais (US$ 4.4 billion) more than in 2007.

Family farming should receive R$ 13 billion (US$ 8.1 billion), which represents an increase of 2 billion reais (US$ 1.3 billion) over the volume of funds turned to the sector in the previous crop. Yesterday, in Curitiba, on commenting the new Harvest Plan to be announced today, the Agricultural Policy secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Edí­lson Guimarães, guaranteed that interest for financing and agricultural investment should remain the same.

"With the higher inflation, the maintenance of interest rates represents a true reduction in cost for producers," he said. The secretary also added that the so-called 4% flat rate, charged on funds made available by the Moderfrota, should be extinguished.

According to Guimarães, the measure should represent a 1.5% to 1.7% reduction in the cost of financing for producers. The Moderfrota is an investment program for the purchase of machinery and agricultural equipment. With the Harvest Plan, the government estimates that the cropland should grow 5% in the next harvest, boosted by the funds available and by good commodity prices.

"High global consumption is an opportunity for Brazil. I would say that the agricultural sector's problems are outside it, caused by increases in the cost of fertilizers – the country imports 90% of the total it consumes – and infrastructure deficiencies, in ports, highways and railways," stated Edilson Guimarães.

According to him, the government's objective with the Harvest Plan is to reduce production costs, to recover degraded areas, stimulate rural insurance and recover the minimal stocks of foods.

Among the measures of the new plan is the increase in the minimum price guaranteed by the government, mainly for agricultural products that are part of the staple diet in the country. This measure is considered "highly positive" by agricultural leaderships. This is due to the fact that currently minimum prices for most of the agricultural products are below production costs.

The measures include a set of instruments like credit and technical assistance to stimulate the increase of production of foods around the country. The federal program Trator Popular (Low-Cost Tractor), with lines of credit for farmers to finance the purchase of equipment, is also part of the plan.

On evaluating the funds for the Harvest Plan, the president of the Brazilian Rural Society (SRB), Cesário Ramalho da Silva, said that they represent 10% more than that made available in the last crop.

In his understanding, this shows the Brazilian government's desire of expanding agricultural production while adopting managerial measures to control inflation, without creating artificial effects, as was the case in Argentina.

Anba

The products whose external sales increased the most were soy, with an increase of 9.7%, meats, with 5.4%, and sugar and alcohol, with 20%. Also exports of paper and pulp increased by 15.5% and leather and leather products by 10.6%.

In the accumulated value for the last 12 months, agribusiness exports increased by 9.9%, adding up to US$ 44.603 billion. The sectors that contributed the most with the performance were meats, sugar and alcohol, paper and pulp, coffee, tea, mate and spices.

Agribusiness exports in the last twelve months increased 49% to Eastern Europe, 20% to Africa and 11.3% to Asia. The European Union (EU) was the main buyer of Brazilian agribusiness products, with 32% of total shipments, followed by Asia, with 20%, and Naphtha, with 15%.

In April, external sales totalled US$ 3.449 billion, figure slightly less than the US$ 3.455 billion in the same month of 2005. Imports increased 17.2% to US$ 474 million. Even so, the agribusiness trade balance had a surplus of US$ 2.976 billion.

Anba

Russia suspended today its embargo on beef and pork imports from six Brazilian states: São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goiás.

According to the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply, Roberto Rodrigues, the termination of the embargo on Brazilian meat benefits the principal meat-producing states in Brazil.

“The news is great, since the problem directed affected chicken, pork, and beef exports, and these issues have been removed,” Rodrigues affirmed.

The Russian embargo on Brazilian meat began in September, 2004, when an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease was detected in the municipality of Careiro de Várzea, in the state of Amazonas.

In November, however, the Russian government authorized meat imports from the state of Santa Catarina, the only Brazilian state rid of the disease without the need for vaccinating its herd.

In the beginning of February of this year, the Russians permitted the importation of Brazilian chicken, with the exception of chicken produced in the states of Pará and Amazonas.

A Brazilian mission headed by the secretary of Agricultural Protection, Gabriel Alves Maciel, is meeting with Russian officials in Moscow this week to discuss ending the embargo on the states of Mato Grosso and Tocantins.

According to the Russian government, these two states border on Amazonas and Pará, where the most recent outbreaks of hoof and mouth disease occurred in Brazil.

Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil

Brazilian producers of cattle beef are going to continue expanding markets in 2005. The sector currently exports to 140 countries (106 in 2003) and, next year, intends to sell, at least, to 150 destinations.

The executive director of the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association (Abiec), Antonio Jorge Camardelli, forecasts that the country should export the equivalent to US$ 2.2 billion up to the end of 2004 and expand sales by at least 10% next year.

The Arab countries already represent a good share of this export. Between January and October, Brazil sold 1.5 million tons of beef on the foreign market, which generated revenues of over US$ 2 billion. The Arabs imported the equivalent to US$ 324.6 million in the period, which corresponds to 16% of the total.

“During this year, we were very worried in following the religious requirements of the Muslims. Each of our associates’ plants has a representative of the religion to inspect the slaughter,” stated Camardelli.

Abiec has 20 associated slaughterhouses that, together, answer to 95% of Brazilian cattle beef exports.

Following the trend in total foreign trade of cattle beef, he believes that sales to the Arabs are going to rise at least 10% in 2005.

“The tendency is for people to notice more and more that nobody has prices that are as competitive as ours,” he declared.

According to Camardelli, the cost of production in Brazil is around 90 dollar cents per kilogram. In Argentina, this value rises to US$ 1.30 and in the United States, to US$ 1.90.

Apart from that, he recalled that Brazilian cattle is “green”, that is, it is fed almost exclusively on grazing ground, which results in lower levels of fat, when compared to confined cattle, and it reduces the possibility of mad cow disease, which is supposedly transmitted due to cattle being fed on pellets produced using animal remains.

China

When considering new destinations, one of the great sector bets is China, a country where Brazil is going to start exporting next year, and where, in the middle term, the market may rise as high as US$ 600 million, or almost 30% of the current exports.

Camardelli believes that, in 2005, China may absorb around 10% of Brazilian exports.

In 2004, for the second year running, according to information supplied by the National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), the country was in first place in the rank of largest world exporters of cattle beef, ahead of other giants in the sector, like the United States and Australia. Brazil, according to Camardelli, has around 15% of foreign trade of the product.

However, the country only has access to around 50% of the global market. Important countries like the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea and Mexico only import industrialized beef from Brazil, not the raw product, which is responsible for the largest volume of exports.

The sector is anxiously awaiting the result of negotiations with the Russian government, which has recently imposed an embargo on new import contracts from Brazil due to the occurrence of foot and mouth disease in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas, in September.

The Brazilian government hopes to find a solution to the impasse, as Russia is currently the largest importer of Brazilian cattle beef.

Promotion

For sector exports to continue rising, Camardelli stated that the Brazilian government must expand the funds destined to sanitary defence, as well as investing in infrastructure.

“If we had access to the entire world market, the transport infrastructure would not cope,” he said.

The country has the largest cattle herd in the world. There are 195.5 million heads of cattle, according to figures supplied by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), greater than the human population, which is of 182 million people.

Annual production is 7.68 million tons of beef, according to Camardelli.

ANBA ”“ Brazil-Arab News Agency

The Secretary of Agricultural Policy of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Ivan Wedekin, was at the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES), October 3, to discuss the Bank’s participation in this year’s Agriculture and Livestock Plan.

The plan foresees US$ 3.7 billion (10.7 billion reais) in investments, US$ 3.03 billion (8.56 billion reais) of which will be made by the Bank.

The Secretary said that between July and October of this year over US$ 567 million (1.6 billion reais) have been distributed through the BNDES’s Modefrota and Finame Special Agricultural programs to finance the purchase of agricultural machinery and implements.

US$ 460 million (1.3 million reais) were disbursed by these programs during the same period last year.

Wedekin said that, despite the 60-day delay in the implementation of these programs and the problems caused by the bank employees’ strike, which lowered the volume of loans contracted for the 2004/2005 harvest, more resources have been distributed this year than during the same period last year.

The Secretary believes that the disbursement of resources for the 2004/2005 harvest will show a substantial increase in this month of November and that the agricultural year (July 30, 2004 to June 30, 2005) will end with a greater volume of funds disbursed than last year.

According to Wedekin, a total of US$ 779 million (2.2 billion reais) was distributed between July and October of this year, as against US$ 602 million (1.7 billion reais) during the same period last year.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein

 In its eighth estimate of the 2004 agricultural harvest in Brazil, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) forecasts a volume of 119.386 million tons, 3.43% less than the 123.632 million tons harvested in 2003.

The most recent forecast is also 0.08% lower than the IBGE’s previous estimate, in July, of 119.479 million tons.

The IBGE also released its Quarterly Survey of Animals Slaughtered, which indicates a 7.62% increase in cattle butchered, when compared with the first quarter of 2004, and a 25.22% increase in comparison with the second quarter of 2003. 6.426 million head of cattle were slaughtered in the country between April and June.

With respect to milk production, the study indicates a 9.24% decline in the second quarter, when compared with the first quarter of 2004, but a 4.72% increase in comparison with the second quarter of 2003.

Financing

The National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) will disburse US$ 2.8 billion (8.5 billion reais) on programs to finance the 2004/2005 growing year, which commenced July 1 of this year and will end June 30, 2005. The amount should be 21% greater than the credit distributed in the previous growing year.

The bank’s chief program for the agricultural sector, the Moderfrota, has a budget of US$ 1.8 billion (5.5 billion reais), 144% more than in 2003/2004. The Moderfrota finances the purchase of tractors and agricultural implements, harvesters, equipment, and machinery for preparing, drying, and processing coffee beans.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein

The government of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has launched the second phase of this year’s National Hoof and Mouth Disease Vaccination and Erradication Campaign in that state.

Due to the mutual efforts of the federal and state governments, the battle against hoof and mouth disease has permitted the expansion of the state’s cattle herd. It is predicted that by the end of the year the herd will amount to 2.4 million head, compared with 1.8 million in 2001.

The Secretariat of Agriculture hopes at least to attain the vaccination index of the previous phase, in March, when 91.28% of the state’s cattle herd was vaccinated, and thus maintain Rio de Janeiro as a state free of the disease for the seventh consecutive year.

Data from the Superintendency of Sanitary Protection classify Rio de Janeiro as an “area free of hoof and mouth disease, with vaccination,” a status which has been conferred by the International Animal Health Organization (OIE) since 1997, the last year in which a case of the disease was reported in the state.

Late June, Brazilian vice-president, José Alencar, declared that the occurrence of hoof and mouth disease detected in three animals in the state of Pará was “an isolated instance” which was being taken seriously by the government and that  there was no risk of contamination.”

Alencar was referring to Argentina’s embargo on meat imports from Brazil, as a result of the discovery of the three cases. He also observed that the meat that Brazil exports comes from other regions, which are already free of hoof and mouth disease.

“Agribusiness in Brazil is a sector that deserves the attention of all authorities, not only the federal government, but state and municipal governments as well.” he remarked. 

The vice-president informed that the government is studying the creation of new credit lines to make Brazilian agriculture even more competitive. He also praised the work of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) in the search for ways to improve Brazil’s ability to compete.

“Embrapa is a company that needs to be strengthened more and more, because it plays a fundamental role in the development of agriculture and livestock raising,” he asserted.

Agência Brasil