EN 
PT_BR 
The Mato Grosso Soybean and Corn Producers Association (Aprosoja MT) expressed its support this week for the opening of an audit announced by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) to investigate possible abusive practices in the granting of rural credit. This initiative comes at a time of high interest rates and restricted financing in the agricultural sector, and reinforces warnings that the organization has already been issuing about distortions in operations involving public funds.
The investigation is in response to a request submitted by federal deputy Coronel Fernanda, and will verify whether financial institutions are conditioning access to rural credit under the Plano Safra (agricultural credit program) on the purchase of additional financial products, such as insurance, capitalization bonds, policies, and other banking services, as well as analyzing the transparency of the rates, charges, and fees levied and the compatibility of payment schedules with the agricultural production cycle.
According to Aprosoja MT, these practices, not foreseen by law or regulations, have significantly increased the Total Effective Cost (CET) of operations and compromised the purpose of rural credit as a public policy for development. In a letter sent to the TCU (Federal Court of Accounts), the entity reported additional charges, such as operational studies, administrative fees, and costs in restructuring, which end up burdening financing backed by public resources.
According to Diego Bertuol, administrative director of Aprosoja MT and coordinator of the Agricultural Policy Commission, access to rural credit has become more restrictive and insecure for producers.
“In practice, producers perceive access to rural credit today as more restrictive, more expensive, and less predictable, thus creating insecurity for the sector. Even in lines officially classified as rural credit, additional requirements for guarantees, operational restrictions, and the contracting of ancillary products that raise the total effective cost, far above the nominal rates disclosed, have become common,” he stated.
Bertuol points out that, in an environment of high interest rates, credit ceases to fulfill its essential function. "With high interest rates, credit stops fulfilling its role as a development tool and begins to act as a direct pressure factor on cash flow, especially in harvests affected by climate, high costs, and low prices like the current one."
The administrative director further notes that, with soybeans being traded in some regions at around R$ 95 per sack, financing has been accessed out of necessity, not economic viability. “We have prices hitting R$ 95 per sack of soybeans in some markets. Producers continue to take out loans when they can, not because it's advantageous, but because it's necessary to maintain activity, which increases the financial risk of the operation.”
Another central point of concern for Aprosoja MT involves the distortion of rural credit through the linking of financial products to the operations.
“The practices that are most concerning are the mischaracterization of rural credit with operations that are formally framed but in practice function as commercial credit, tied selling of financial products, insurance and services as a condition for releasing credit, whether it be consortiums, life insurance, capitalization bonds or pension bonds and much more, that is, hybrid structures that artificially raise the cost of the operation, making an excessive transfer of risk to the producer,” reports Diego Bertuol.
According to the producer, this model compromises the logic of rural credit as a development tool. "These practices distort the purpose of rural credit as a public policy, which should guarantee productive stability, food security, and predictability for the sector, and not maximize financial returns for institutions at the expense of the producer's sustainability."
The association points out that this reality helps explain the significant drop in the contracting of official credit lines. Although the Ministry of Agriculture has announced financing lines with interest rates around 121% per 4-month period, Aprosoja MT states that this percentage does not reflect the real cost faced by the producer.
“We had the announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture of financing at 12%, but that's not what reaches the producer. With this range of products that banks and credit cooperatives make the producer contract to release the credit, the final interest rate ends up being around 18% to 21%, levels that technically make several agricultural operations unfeasible,” explains the coordinator of the Agricultural Policy Commission. “The impact is threefold: reduction of margins or direct losses, even in productive harvests; increased structural indebtedness, with producers rolling over debt to survive and not to invest.”
For Aprosoja MT, the TCU's audit represents an opportunity to correct historical distortions. “Aprosoja Mato Grosso hopes that the Court of Accounts' investigation will result in transparency, correction of distortions, and institutional accountability, thus ensuring that rural credit is offered with real adherence to the rules of the Rural Credit Manual and other regulations governing it. More than pointing out flaws, the expectation is that the audit will contribute to restoring the balance of the system, guaranteeing accessible, predictable credit, free from conditions or constraints that prevent its use.”
The organization emphasizes that it will continue to act in a technical and institutional manner in defense of rural producers and rural credit as a strategic instrument for food production, food security, and the socioeconomic development of Mato Grosso.
