Rousseff says Brazilian State should be modernized
President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday (Feb. 11), in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil’s main grain producer, that the country’s agribusiness has set new a production benchmark. Rousseff, who took part in the 2013/2014 crop harvest opening ceremony, took a couple of minutes to test a large harvester. She praised the growth in agribusiness: “Over the last two decades, grain production increased by 221%, and the planted area a mere 41%. Now that’s some production right there! And that’s what we want for all the areas in Brazil.”
In the president’s view, the Brazilian government and the population must lay the groundwork for success by modernizing the State: “There’s too much paperwork in this country, and we must streamline processes. Not that inspections should be carried out less often, not that we should let things be poorly done or the environment be destroyed. We want, rather, to abolish a number of unnecessary requirements.”
The fifth survey on grain crops for 2013/2014, released on Tuesday (Feb. 11) by the National Supply Company (“Conab”), reports that the harvest is expected to yield 193.6 million tons – 3.6% larger than the previous crops, which totaled 186.9 million tons. Conab further reports that discouraging prices and the surplus of certain grains prevented the increase from being even more significant.
Nevertheless, Brazil could become the world’s biggest soy producer, with over 90 million tons harvested in this crop, surpassing the US production. Considering that corn should amount to over 75 million tons, both commodities account for over 85% of the national grain production – which takes up 55 million hectares in the country.
According to the government, Brazil’s agribusiness exports yielded nearly $42 billion, 4.3% higher than 2012.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Rousseff says Brazilian State should be modernized
