Senator files appeal asking for blueprint approved last week by Agriculture Committee to be discussed in plenary
06/29/2022
/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_37554604729d4b2f9f3eb9ad8a691345/internal_photos/bs/2022/l/B/qqiLJVTgSzMaCRQ3t9Ig/senador-paulo-rocha-senado-federal.png)
Paulo Rocha — Foto: Divulgação/Senado Federal
Senator Paulo Rocha (Workers’ Party, PT, of Pará) filed on Tuesday an appeal for the bill that establishes the so-called agricultural self-monitoring, passed last week by the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, to be analyzed in plenary before being signed into law. The lawmaker has already obtained the necessary signatures to take the proposal to the plenary.
In the model provided in the bill, farmers and agribusiness companies will also control their own production. If the change takes place, the agricultural defense system, which today is exclusively state-run, would become hybrid, shared with the producers.
Advocates of the project claim that this division of tasks between the public and private sectors is similar to systems adopted in Europe and the United States and would guarantee the fluidity of the processes, hampered by the federal government’s budget limitations. But consumer and animal protection organizations, opposition lawmakers, and representatives of the civil servants who work in enforcement are critical of the project and are calling for at least a broader discussion before a definitive change is made.
The National Union of Agricultural Federal Auditors (Anffa Sindical) said in a note that it is in talks with senators to try and take the bill to the committees of Consumer Protection, Health and Constitution and Justice. Anffa says that the proposal represents a risk to society by making the processes of sanitary inspection of agribusiness more flexible.
“Besides the risks to the country’s food health, this bill sets a dangerous precedent for the federal government’s auditing and inspection careers because it can be used as a reference to limit the actions of other civil servants in these fields,” Anffa’s head Janus Pablo said.
Besides Paulo Rocha, Senators Jean Paul Prates (PT of Rio Grande do Norte), Fabiano Contarato (PT of Espírito Santo), Paulo Paim (PT of Rio Grande do Sul), Jaques Wagner (PT of Bahia), Flávio Arns (Podemos of Paraná), Eliziane Gama (Citzenship of Maranhão), Rogério Carvalho (PT of Sergipe), Mara Gabrilli (Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB, of São Paulo), Leila Barros (Democratic Labor Party, PDT, of Distrito Federal), Zenaide Maia (Pros of Rio Grande do Norte) and Alessandro Vieira (PSDB of Sergipe) have already signed the appeal.
*By José Florentino — São Paulo
Source: Valor International