With Emater, cattle ranchers in Jacundá can access the Family Agriculture Program
Benefited families are from the communities Estrada do Lago, Nova Canaã, and Santo Antônio in the municipality of the southeastern region of Pará
Through rural credit projects developed by the local office of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of the State of Pará (Emater) in Jacundá, in southeastern Pará, by early September, two cattle ranchers from the federal settlement Jacundá can have, in total, more than R$ 300 thousand to buy more cattle heads.
Three other families from the communities Estrada do Lago, Nova Canaã, and Santo Antônio are also expecting to receive, in the same period, a total of more than half a million reais with the aim of expanding beef cattle farming.
The funds are being requested by Emater, on behalf of the producers, from the Bank of the Amazon (Basa) and the Cooperative Credit System (Sicredi), within the More Food line of the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Pronaf). The proposals for individual contracts range from R$ 108 thousand to R$ 250 thousand. According to Emater's assessment, the potential beneficiaries have, on average, properties of 50 hectares with current herds of 40 crossbred animals.
The estimate is that the introduction of nelore breed matrices, combined with strategies guided on-site by Emater, such as differentiated nutrition and pasture management, will increase productivity and product quality.
Partnership
The rural producer Romildo Santos, 48 years old, from the community Santo Antônio, at km 46 of the PA-150 highway, works with 120 cattle on more than 100 hectares of his two farms: Bela Vista and Rio Pequeno. The current credit project, of more than R$ 129 thousand, is the fourth intermediated by Emater, in continuous service: “Emater is really good. They help us a lot. They come, follow up, visit, make the projects. I have nothing to complain about,” he says.
For the head of the local Emater office in Jacundá, agricultural technician William Ghisolf, Emater's support for the public financing policy of cattle farming in the municipality strengthens several fronts: “Injection of capital that oxygenates the enterprises, moves the socioeconomic dynamics, provides returns on investments in the communities themselves, and improves the product itself: it is higher quality meat, with more market,” he predicts.
Text by Aline Miranda
