The Brazilian Chamber of Citrus Rio Grande do Sul met on Wednesday (20), via videoconference, to assess the sector during the drought plaguing the state and pandemic coronavirus. The virtual meeting was coordinated by the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Covatti Son, and the participation of 36 growers of Fall Valley, Upper Uruguay West Frontier and Serra Gaucha.
There have been reports of crop situation with loss of the drought varies between 20% and 50% compared to the initial estimates of crop, especially in case of some varieties of bergamot. The growers claimed that the Farm Activity Guarantee Program (PROAGRO), Brazil’s Central Bank, to cover the losses of oranges and bergamot by varieties, as farmers have specific autumn cultivars of winter and some harvested in the spring.
The secretary asked the director of the Division of Agricultural Policy and Rural Development of Seapdr, Ivan Bonetti, seek solutions with the federal government to the PROAGRO can meet the citrus by variety.
The superintendent of Banrisul, Gregor Zalamena, volunteered to cooperate to this end.
For the marketing of oranges for juice industries, which should start in the coming days, producers have expressed concerns about with the marked prices. According to them, the values, so far, are below the minimum price established by the federal government: R $ 380.00 a ton.
Industry representatives reported that increased storage capacity, want to secure the purchase of producers and are monitoring the market situation. As they, on the one hand, there was a reduction of consumption of juices, on the other, the high dollar favors exports, although there is still a horizon for the exchange behavior and the market.
In this sense, Covatti Son requested that orange growers and industries in the short term, report the situation to the commercialization, if any, to seek from the federal government agricultural policy mechanisms to support growers and industries.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.