Source: Portal of the Ministry of Agrarian Development (DF), 17/06/2009

The National Program for Diversification in Areas Cultivated with Tobacco, created by the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) in 2005, was presented by the Secretary of Family Agriculture (SAF), Adoniram Sanches Peraci, last Tuesday (16), in the Federal Senate , in Brasília (DF).

Peraci was invited to compose the table of the public hearing that deals with a bill that creates the National Fund for the Protection of Tobacco Workers (FNF). The Fund aims to protect workers in the sector and encourage the diversification of economic activities in areas cultivated with tobacco. In addition, the project provides for the institution of the Contribution for Intervention in the Economic Domain on the import and sale of manufactured tobacco derivatives (CIDE-Fumo).

Framework Convention

The secretary highlighted the importance of Brazil's ratification in the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), for the adoption of measures to restrict the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Currently, 164 countries are party to the Convention.

Peraci explained that it was from the Convention document, more specifically from article 17, which deals with tobacco production, that the National Diversification Program was born. "The Program was built smoothly to give option to family farmers who want to move to other cultures, without losing their income and even expanding it," he said.

The objective of the Program is to seek productive and income-generating alternatives in tobacco growing, with a focus on quality of life and economic, social, environmental and cultural sustainability among farming families.

The MDA is the Program's coordinator, in partnership with government organizations and civil society. Currently, 60 projects are supported in the South and Northeast regions, serving around 20 thousand families. The actions include Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Ater), training and research.

Public policies for the sector

Peraci explains that the government provides a series of public policies for family farmers and that make it possible not only to generate income but also to increase it. Among them, the secretary highlighted the access to the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Pronaf), which provides low-interest credit, and marketing actions such as the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the insertion of family farming in the sale of products for school meals, through Provisional Measure 455.

In the end, the secretary asked Senator Paulo Paim, who chaired the public hearing, to include the MDA in the composition of the National Fund for the Protection of Tobacco Workers (FNF) dealt with in the bill discussed at the hearing.

The audience also included the representative of the National Cancer Institute (Inca) and member of the National Commission for the Implementation of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (CONICQ), Tânia Cavalcante; the Federal Revenue representative, Marcelo Ficher; and the presidents of the Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), Iro Schünke; the André Franco Montoro Filho Institute of Ethics in Competition; the São Paulo State Tobacco Industry Union, José Henrique Nunes; and the National Confederation of Workers in the Food Industry (CNTA), Artur Carvalho.