Brasilia – Thousands of farmers protested Tuesday in several Brazilian cities against the economic and agricultural policies of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government.
The main protests were here in the capital, but there were also demonstrations in other states, including Parana and Mato Grosso do Sul.
In Brasilia, some 1,500 farmers marched down the wide boulevard that runs past the presidential palace, Congress and the government ministries.
The farmers demanded better support for family farms, as well as help in getting loans and debt relief.
The head of the group known as Contag, Paulo de Tarso, said that the sector also wants to negotiate with the government to include all the nation’s small farmers in the formal economy, since many of them do not have the right to a retirement pension or other labor benefits.
De Tarso also demanded greater efforts on the part of the government to reduce the level of rural violence, which in 2005 – due to land disputes – took the lives of 38 farmers.
The protests were the start of the so-called “Cry of the Land,” a series of demonstrations that will be held this week along with meetings of agricultural leaders to discuss specific matters relating to the sector.
The debates will take place in huge tents erected on Brasilia’s main avenue and, according to Contag, they will cover issues varying from ecology and family agriculture to violence and sustainable development.
As part of the protest, several highways were blocked peacefully on Tuesday by demonstrators.
The farmers say that the tight-money policy of the government has left agriculture on the verge of a severe crisis.
Their demands coincide with complaints expressed on Monday by the CNA, the main organization representing large-scale commercial farming, which said that businessmen in the sector are forecasting a negative outlook this year and that 76 percent of them expect a worse harvest than last year.
The CNA attributed what it called the “worst crisis of the last 20 years” to the substantial appreciation of the real against the dollar, growing competition from imports, burdensome taxes, the increasing price of inputs including seeds and fertilizer, high interest rates and bad weather.
Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of meat, grain, cereals, oils and fruits.
Official figures indicate that the agricultural and livestock sector accounts for one third of the country’s gross domestic product and 44 percent of exports.
