BRASÍLIA, April 10, 2025 — Strengthening public policies to support Brazil's agrifood sector—encompassing agriculture, agribusiness, and services—is essential for maintaining its role as a cornerstone of the Brazilian economy and enhancing its resilience. This is the conclusion of the new World Bank study, "Strengthening Support for Brazilian Agriculture: Policies for a Competitive, Sustainable, and Inclusive Agrifood Sector," released today.
Despite its competitiveness and critical importance to the Brazilian economy, the sector faces challenges that threaten its sustainability and growth. Structural socioeconomic issues in rural areas include extreme poverty, affecting about 3 million families, and severe food insecurity, impacting 18.6% of family farmers. These problems are worsened by unequal access to public policies and rural extension services.
According to the World Bank report, the agricultural sector accounts for about 8.4% of Brazil's GDP, 16.2% of total employment, and 40% of total exports. When considering the entire agrifood sector, its contribution reaches approximately 22% of Brazil's GDP. In 2023, agrifood production contributed 30% to the country's 3% GDP growth, driven by high demand from both domestic and international markets and productivity gains that surpass global averages.
The report also examines public agrifood support policies across various states to capture diverse productive and socioeconomic contexts. It includes information on Bahia, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo, which together contribute nearly 40% of Brazil's GDP and have distinct agrifood systems. The World Bank is finalizing a study on Pará.
The new publication recommends redirecting support to rural producers, particularly through rural credit, prioritizing the inclusion of family farmers and the promotion of climate-smart agricultural practices. It also suggests redirecting federal credit lines and technical assistance to increase the adoption of sustainable practices. Among the three states, Bahia was the first to adopt support programs unrelated to production, which have fewer negative environmental impacts. São Paulo and Santa Catarina have begun conditioning producer support on meeting specific environmental criteria, a practice that could be expanded nationwide.
Diversifying support tools for producers at the federal and state levels is also essential. This includes incorporating matching grants, partial credit guarantees (PCGs), agricultural insurance, price hedging, decoupled payments, and payments for environmental services, in addition to credit lines.
The study further recommends investing in public agrifood goods and services, focusing on agricultural innovation, stronger sanitary and phytosanitary systems, and climate-resilient infrastructure. Investing in public agrifood goods and services yields higher economic and social returns than private investments like rural credit. Shifting 10 percentage points of agrifood spending from private to public goods could lead to a 5% increase in the sector's per capita value added.
Finally, these recommendations should be accompanied by enhanced coordination to evaluate and monitor public policies between federal and state levels. This effort should be led by the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock at the national level, in collaboration with state governments.
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