PE247 - The Northeast caucus in the Chamber of Deputies, coordinated by Pernambuco native Pedro Eugênio (PT), met this Wednesday (29) with the president of the Banco do Nordeste (BNB), Ari Joel Lanzarin, to discuss the renegotiation of debts of farmers affected by the drought. The meeting had great participation from parliamentarians from the Region. According to Lazanrin, in recent months more than R$ 3 billion have been renegotiated, with around 300 thousand operations carried out.
These operations, however, mostly deal with the renegotiations of so-called "Pronaf beneficiaries"—small farmers who obtained resources through the National Program for Family Farming (Pronaf). The parliamentary group now wants to discuss solutions with the Ministry of Finance to include small and medium-sized producers from the Northeast in the renegotiation process.
“We requested that the bank provide information on those producers who were not affected by existing laws. From all indications, it's not a large number, but it's a group of producers we want to know about. We have a meeting scheduled with the Ministry of Finance to discuss these cases that escaped. They must be older cases,” said Pedro Eugênio.
During the meeting, he spoke about the progress on the Northeast Caucus's schedule. “We are addressing the restructuring of federal agencies operating in the Northeast, the issue of the State Participation Fund (FPE), and conducting a survey on infrastructure for the region, with an emphasis on water infrastructure. Representative Ariosto Holanda (PSB-CE) is responsible for this survey. With him, we will be able to publish a report on the topic, state by state,” explained the Workers' Party member.
A working group will focus specifically on the issue of credit, as well as rural development and post-drought recovery. According to the coordinator, the parliamentary group and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) are coordinating a survey on appropriate technology to transform the semi-arid region into a productive and sustainable environment. A new meeting to discuss the topic will be scheduled. At that meeting, they will discuss the idea of creating a forum of federal entities working on the development of the Northeast.
“We will work to mediate and guarantee interaction between BNB, Sudene, Convesf, DNOCS, all these bodies that have responsibility for the development of the Northeast. The meeting should take place at BNB, in Fortaleza, on the bank's anniversary, July 19th,” informed Eugênio.