The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MPLS), Blairo Maggi, signed on Tuesday (27) the creation of the Agro + Woman Plan to stimulate actions that promote equality between men and women, in order to provide dignity and empower women and contribute to the economic and social development of the country. The minister recalled that he has a daughter dedicated to the activity and said that “it is very joyful to see that women are working in this sector”.
“Today, we are taking another step towards building a more robust and more active cooperativism, with the presence of Brazilian women,” said the coordinator of the Department of Integration and Social Mobility of SMC / MPLS, Vera Lucia de Oliveira Daller. The plan aims to stimulate the sustainable development of the different production chains, agricultural cooperatives, rural agroindustries, access to national and international markets and all segments involved.
Women are 51.5% of the Brazilian population, according to the IBGE’s Agricultural and Livestock Census of 2017, and are increasingly present in rural production. Of the ten agribusiness leaders, two are women.
Vera Lúcia, notes that instruments are being created to enable more women to be trained in agribusiness management. “With the knowledge, they will be multipliers in cooperative management, rural property, production systems and the quality of products offered to the market, focusing on food safety and correct planting,” he said.
The actions to reach the objectives of the new Plan will be the responsibility of the Secretariat of Social Mobility, Rural Producer and Cooperativism, having as advisory body the Committee of Public Policies for Women and MPLS Gender.
“I know many women, who became widows very early, became victims of some processes, but they touched agriculture with as much knowledge, with as much will, with as much passion as their husbands had,” said Blairo Maggi in his opening speech at the International Seminar Gender and Cooperativism, where he signed the ordinance.
The minister said that this is a risk activity, stressed the importance of public policies aimed at the sector and the satisfaction provided by the producer. “We are going to reap beautiful fruits. Brazil must consolidate its position as the world leader in the production area in a sustainable, socially just manner. And that we can all participate in this process or at the point of production, in services, in the medium, in distribution. The food we produce is fuel for life. “
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.