The Association of Soy and Corn Producers of Mato Grosso (Aprosoja-MT) assesses that the days of the Soy Moratorium are numbered, which would mean the end of the private sector agreement that prohibits the purchase of grain from farms with crops in areas deforested after 2008 in the Amazon.
“We now have this guarantee of the end of the moratorium…”, said the president of Aprosoja-MT, Lucas Costa Beber, in a statement this Tuesday.
The statement was made after the president of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove), André Nassar, said that the entity has been recommending to its members that “restrictions or lists be not created in the acquisition of soy produced in accordance with the limits of Brazilian environmental restrictions”.
Environmentalists and Abiove itself consider that the moratorium — which restricts purchases of areas deforested in the Amazon after 2008 even legally — helped reduce the rate of deforestation in the Amazon, the largest tropical forest in the world.
The statement by Nassar, leader of the association that brings together trading companies and soybean processors, was made during a conference call with the governor of Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes, who asked whether or not Abiove would end restrictions that do not comply with Brazilian legislation, according to video posted on Instagram.
When questioned, Abiove stated that the “Soy Moratorium will not end”.
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Abiove also stated that the entity is “awaiting the entry into force of Mato Grosso legislation”, which cuts tax benefits for companies participating in the Soy Moratorium agreement.
Earlier, Nassar told Reuters which discussed a new environmental compliance pact for producers this Tuesday in Brasília, in a meeting attended by representatives from Aprosoja Brasil and Aprosoja-MT.
The meeting, which debated a proposal from federal deputy Coronel Fernanda (PL-MT), took place at a time when the industry is under pressure from legislation in Mato Grosso, which should come into force at the beginning of next year.
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Soy producers have sought to end the moratorium. The sector considers that the agreement is “supralegal”, disrespecting Brazilian law that allows the farmer to deforest part of the farm, in percentages that vary according to the region, and use it for economic activities.
“(…) The law approved by the Legislative Assembly (of Mato Grosso) achieved its objective. In Mato Grosso, there will be no requirement, no list that does not respect solely and exclusively what is in the Brazilian Forest Code”, said Mendes, according to a post on the social network.
Beber, from Aprosoja-MT, said that he will participate in the regulation of Mato Grosso’s law, so that there is no loophole left that would allow the Soy Moratorium to continue.
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New pact
The new environmental compliance pact discussed this Tuesday between Abiove and Aprosoja was proposed by the deputy as a replacement for the moratorium, based on the Brazilian Forest Code.
But the new pact opens up opportunities for other initiatives in the area of environmental sustainability, said the president of Abiove, who participated in the meeting with representatives of the associations.
“The pact (proposed by the deputy) aims to unite the production chain, which is good. For outside spectators, it will be good to see the chain together,” said Nassar.
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But he highlighted that the initiative would be monitored by an external “stakeholder”, which is the Federal Public Ministry. “We value this”, said the president of Abiove.
Nassar preferred not to comment on the Soy Moratorium guidelines, but recalled that from next year the law will come into force in Brazil’s main soy producing state, which reduces tax benefits to the sector.
“We don’t know what will happen with the moratorium, but having a process that gives credibility, that gives guarantees to those who buy our products is super important,” he said.
According to data from Abiove, between the 2006/07 and 2022/23 harvests, the area occupied with soy in the Amazon biome increased from 1.41 million hectares to 7.43 million, respectively (+420%), with a residual portion of only 250 thousand hectares associated with deforestation that occurred after 2008, which indicates that the agreement between the trading companies managed to avoid new deforestation.
Nassar said the conversation with producer representatives was “very good” as a first meeting to discuss what he considers could be a parallel pact to the moratorium.
“I think it’s on the right track. Everyone in the chain will be engaged, there will be the MPF, which can verify compliance with the law and see the criteria”, he highlighted.
He commented that the initiative can establish procedures for the regularization of producers who deforested without authorization to suppress vegetation.
“She wants to regularize the producer, value the producer who sequesters carbon, but this is a more voluntary thing, it is something that must come, but it is difficult to put this as a sectoral agreement”, he added.
