Brazil’s Lula to present pastureland recovery policy at COP-28 -November 10, 2023 at 01:54 pm EST
BRASILIA, Nov 10 (Reuters) – A plan to recover degraded
pastures in farm powerhouse Brazil will be officially announced
as government policy and presented at the COP-28 climate summit
in Dubai by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, an official
said.
The plan, which is being devised by the Agriculture
Ministry, has been submitted to Lula for approval, Carlos
Augustin, special advisor to Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro,
told Reuters.
Lula is expected to formally announce it on Nov. 22, ahead
of the summit in the following week.
The timing coincides with efforts by Brazil, also the
largest global producer and exporter of sugar, coffee and orange
juice, and a top supplier of chicken, to improve its environment
record as the country braces for new EU regulations banning
deforestation-linked commodities.
The new policy aims at giving farmers financial incentives
to buy or lease degraded land, most of which is currently used
for low-tech cattle ranching, Augustin said.
As part of the initiative, development bank BNDES could set
up a fund to attract foreign capital, which in turn could be
directed to land recovery efforts.
“We have millions of hectares of land that are degraded,
unproductive, that we can recover,” Lula said during a meeting
with soybean crusher lobby Abiove this week.
Soybean and beef production in Brazil, the world’s biggest
supplier of both, is frequently associated with deforestation in
endangered biomes like the Amazon and the Cerrado.
According to Augustin, Brazil has 200 million hectares of
land dedicated to livestock farming, and 200 million head of
cattle, a low average.
While some livestock farming is more productive, much of
this land is practically unused.
“If you double this average, you have 100 million hectares
for farming with the same livestock production,” he said.
The government’s proposal should bolster overall land
productivity in the country, avoiding the need to expand land
use and allowing Brazil to produce more food on the already
available areas.
According to Augustin, the administration wants farmers to
invest in soil recovery, use of biological inputs, promote
no-till farming and other sustainable techniques to be eligible
for subsidized loans under the policy.
As Brazilian food importers, Japan, South Korea, China and
Saudi Arabia have shown interest backing investments of this
type.
“It’s also a question of food security. The world is
interested in increasing food production.”
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu
Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by David Gregorio)
