Source: Canal Rural - RS, 12/07/2009

The implementation of the program to eliminate deforestation caused by cattle ranching in the Amazon will cost the government about R $ 1 million, in the first stage. According to the Minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes, the program should take another six months to go into effect and start operating in the south of Pará. supermarkets - Pão de Açúcar, Carrefour and Wal-Mart - last month.

Before, R $ 500 thousand to R $ 600 thousand will be invested in technology for the use of electronic animal transit guides. This inspection instrument - required for the removal of animals from the property - will facilitate the tracking of the origin of the cattle.

In addition to these resources, another R $ 500 thousand will be spent on the georeferencing of the 12 thousand rural properties in the region, which occupy an area of ​​approximately 150 thousand square kilometers, equivalent to the entire territory of Ceará. The georeferencing will make the location of the properties recognized by a reference system and will be done at a single point on the farm. This makes it possible to complete the job in 90 days and at a much lower cost.

All costs will be the government's, leaving the landowners, in the first phase, to register with information from the entire herd. "Then, just do the satellite monitoring every six months and check if a tree has been felled," said Stephanes.

This work will be done by Embrapa Monitoring by Satellite, the same unit of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation responsible for the georeferencing of the works of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). This is the most expensive part and should cost, annually, R $ 2,5 million.

This cost must initially be paid for by the government, with the participation of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). But, the ministry's objective is that in the following years the expenses are shared with producers and slaughterhouses. The purpose, according to Stephanes, is for the tracking system to be implemented later in the whole of Pará.