Leaders of the apple production sector met yesterday at the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA), in Brazil, to try to renegotiate their pending debts.
The amount was around R$ 600 million of financing, marketing and investment debts, which involved hundreds of apple growers of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; major producing States.
According to the president of the Gaucho Association of Apple Producers (Agapomi), Blaise Laurens Castelet, half of this figure relates to debts incurred by gaucho fruit producers. The value has been accumulating over the last five years, after poor harvests caused by frost and hail,and difficulties in sales.
According to Castelet, the idea of the meeting is to pressure the federal government to respond to the demands of the Vacaria Carta sent last year to the Secretary of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy, Caio Rocha. The concern of the segment is that the liability prevents fruit producers from getting access to formal credit lines with subsidized interest, which allow for example, installation of hail protection nets to cover their orchards.
Source: FreshPlaza based on information from Correo del Pueblo (people´s mail).
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