The coordinator of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), João Paulo Rodrigues, said this Thursday (20th) that the Ministry of Finance will increase resources for obtaining land for agrarian reform. According to Rodrigues, who met with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, at the end of the afternoon, the government could reach, in 2023, a maximum of R$ 400 million. “The land reform budget that we inherited from Bolsonaro is BRL 250 million [em 2023] to obtain land, in Incra [Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária]. The government is committing itself to reaching R$ 400 million, but it is insufficient to settle 60 thousand families in camps”, said the MST leader after the meeting, held at the federal government office, in São Paulo, on Avenida Paulista. According to Rodrigues, to settle the 60,000 families currently camped in the country, a budget of approximately R$ 1.3 billion would be needed. “Minister Fernando Haddad said that there is no way to replace this budget this year”, he pointed out. The coordinator of the social movement stated that the minister proposed to work towards obtaining land, for agrarian reform, coming from landlords who are indebted to the Union. “The commitment that the minister signed with us is that he will work this year to try to obtain land from Union debtors,” he said. “He [o ministro] is suggesting the creation of a working group, with several ministries, to obtain land from Union debtors. To carry out the settlement process in areas that belong to debtors, which would be automatically negotiated between the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Revenue and, possibly, Incra. This is an agreement that was signed here today,” he added. According to the director, there are five million hectares of Union debtors in the hands of less than a thousand owners who, together, owe R$ 40 billion to the Brazilian state. “If agribusiness is saying that it is productive, that it makes a profit, that it is important for development, first, that it pays its debt: 40 billion reais, which it owes to the Brazilian state. And, second, if If he doesn’t pay, let him transfer these lands, there are five million hectares, which would already be enough to solve part of the agrarian reform settlements”. Occupations The MST coordinator also said that the movement will vacate, in the coming hours, the areas of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), in Pernambuco, and Suzano, in Espírito Santo. “We have a commitment that we will vacate, in the next few hours, the Suzano area, and also the area related to Embrapa. We are just looking for a place to take families,” he said. Minister Fernando Haddad did not speak to the press after the meeting. The ministry was sought and has not yet manifested itself.
Agência Brasil
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