What is the position of the Brazilian government?
Brazilian Federal government continues to support and foster sugarcane sugar and ethanol production in the country. The federal government presents sugarcane ethanol as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Authorities also argue that sugarcane used to produce ethanol is not taking the place of food crops. Consequently, all producers within the process of sugarcane bioethanol manufacturing (both agricultural and industrial) have relatively easy access to credit or loans.
A recent example of their position is a set of policies developed by the Executive and the Ministry of Agriculture in the beginning of 2012. The expected result is to expand sugarcane and ethanol production through the development of all production levels and research. The first step, recover underperforming sugarcane crops, has an estimated cost of 11 billion euro.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, ethanol is a way to mitigate climate change that Brazil has adopted through federal government policies. One of the goals of the 2008 National Plan about Climate Change is an 11% increase on ethanol national consumption, coupled with the need to expand the offer of energy generated from sugarcane bagasse burning.
Brazil’s government ensures market demand at national level through fuel regulation: fossil fuels must have a defined percentage of ethanol. Government also fosters production of cars that can run on any mix of gasoline and ethanol.
The agro business in general is quite powerful on the Legislative sphere. On April 2012 Congress passed a bill under pressure from the farmers’ lobby to expand agricultural practises in the state, which is currently under review by the President. However, activists claim that the laws acts to absolve farmers who have already destroyed native forests on their lands and, furthermore, this amnesty will lead to further deforestation in years to come. Nevertheless, the agricultural lobby dispute this claim saying that the new forest code is too rigorous regarding the protection of forests in private land.