In relaunching the cooperative front at ALMG, the Ocemg president also called for respect for Brazilian agriculture
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Economic Development Committee of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Minas Gerais (ALMG) It was relaunched on Thursday (9/28/23). Parliamentary Cooperative FrontThis is part of the activities to celebrate the month designated for this sector.
The event took place at a public hearing requested by the First Secretary of ALMG, Representative Antonio Carlos Arantes (PL), who discussed the role played by cooperatives in the development of cooperatives, cooperative members and the economy of the state of Minas Gerais.
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The president of the Federation and Organization of Cooperatives of the State of Minas Gerais (Ocemg), Ronaldo Scottato, celebrated the positive result he obtained. 781 cooperative represented by the entity. And thanks to Success for the continuous work of training and training managers Units in the country.
“In addition to the in-house pedagogical work at Ocemg, we have partners such as Fundação Dom Cabral. From there, managers follow courses at universities around the world. “We have training at universities in Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, the UK and others,” he noted.
The executive highlighted one of the state’s most representative cooperative sectors, agribusiness, and asked for “more respect” for this sector. He remembers a trip to Belgium where The representative of the European Community said that it was very difficult to reverse the negative image of agriculture in Europe. “Because of the mad cow disease in Pará, they said all our meat was contaminated,” he complained.
Finally, criticize the fact that Agribusiness, which contributes significantly to Brazilian GDP, has a smaller share in the wealth distribution. Based on a recent study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Scottato expressed his regret that the primary sector of the economy receives only 11% of the wealth. Meanwhile, 22% in the tertiary sector and 67% in the secondary sector.
“This reward for rural workers is not fair. Building a house does not begin with the roof, but with the grass.”
12.8% of the GDP of Minas Gerais
In turn, Alexandre Gatti, supervisor of the Ocemg system, presented data on cooperatives in the state of Minas Gerais. They are around 2.8 million connected members To 781 cooperatives It employs 54,000 people and generates exports worth more than US$1.5 billion (In Brazil, the total is US$7 billion.)
In 2022, State cooperatives generated R$118 billion and generated R$3 billion in taxes.This is equivalent to 12.8% of the GDP of the state of Minas Gerais. In terms of agricultural GDP, cooperatives account for 21.9%. About 57% of coffee production in Minas comes from this sector, which also contributes about 20% of milk production.
The headquarters supports tourism and mining cooperatives
Maria Enella Loyola, Director of Small Business Promotion and Entrepreneurship at the State Secretariat for Economic Development (Headquarters), said: The cooperative is divided into the following sectors: agriculture; credit; infrastructure; health; a job; production of goods and services; convey; And consumption.
Among the measures taken by the headquarters in this sector, she cited the campaign implemented to bring microcredit to the tourism sector, which was greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are working in all 44 tourist departments in the state of Minas Gerais and have achieved a 34% gain in improving access to microcredit,” he celebrated.
He also referred to working with cooperatives in the mineral sector. After forming a working group with universities, federal and government agencies, and other bodies, a diagnosis of the sector was obtained. Thanks to this, the headquarters and the Ocemg organization are able to orient their actions more decisively with cooperatives in the mineral sector.
Caio Coimbra, Undersecretary for Agricultural Policy and Economics at the State Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Seapa), defended the actions taken by the department on behalf of small cooperatives: “We tried to help them, by providing training and access to credit, to allow them to help.” It is organized and grows.”
Parliamentarians highlight bottlenecks in the rural sector
Representative Antonio Carlos Arantes celebrated the positive characters of cooperatives in the state of Minas Gerais. “We have about 800 cooperatives under the umbrella of Ocemg, and they are very resistant and consistent, because they know they can trust the entity,” he praised, appreciating the large amount of state GDP produced by cooperatives.
ALMG’s First Vice President, Rep. Leninha (PT), stood by small cooperatives, even recognizing the value of large and medium-sized cooperatives. “It is a way of organizing production that I believe in, and I believe is fair,” she said, and advocated for legislative changes that would reduce taxes for the sector as a whole.
Difficulties in agriculture
Representative Adriano Alvarenga (PP), a dairy producer and member of the cooperative, said that this sector is experiencing difficulties, especially due to the lack of labor and infrastructure. “There is nothing better than cooperatives investing in technology and transferring knowledge to members to change this situation,” he suggested.
Maria Clara Mara (PSDB) also focused her speech on the bottlenecks faced by rural producers. A coffee farmer in Patrocinho (Alto Paraneba) complained that the biggest problem was the flow of production, due to the poor quality of government roads.
“We have quality products, but we fail to sell them,” she added, also highlighting labor shortages as another obstacle.
Rep. Bosco (N) stated that Brazilian agribusiness is booming and has saved the country’s economy during the pandemic. He was chosen to coordinate this sector on the parliamentary front, and announced that one of the goals would be to combat unfair competition from milk imported from Argentina and other countries.
“We cannot see our producers practically paying for the production of their milk,” he condemned.
Jobs and income
Representative Gil Pereira (PSD) expressed his appreciation for the cooperation as a means of generating opportunities, jobs and income for the state and Brazil. He discussed the contribution of photovoltaic energy to enhancing rural activity. “There is about 7 gigawatts of power generated, nearly half of Itaipu, creating 186,000 jobs,” he noted.
Rep. Ana Paula Siqueira (RED), Secretary-General-designate of the Parliamentary Front, declared her commitment to the socio-economic development of the country. “I advocate sustainable models so that we can generate employment and income,” he stressed.
Vice President of the Front, MP Professor Wendell Mesquita (Solidarity), praised the participation of parliamentarians and guests on this occasion. He appreciated Belo Horizonte for being “one of the few Brazilian capitals with advanced legislation for cooperatives.”
Finally, Representative Roberto Andrade (Patriota), Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, celebrated the relaunch of the Front as a way to evaluate cooperation.
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