Sustentabilidade e políticas públicas para a agropecuária: o caso do plano agrícola e pecuário 2015/2016

Abstract

It’s known the importance of agribusiness for the Brazilian economy and that the agricultural production is growing every year, made possible mainly by investments in technological and scientific innovations and by the expansion of large production units, which aim to supply, mostly, the foreign market, attending the growing world demand for food. Despite the apparent success of the sector, the production system of industrial agriculture it is shown unsustainable, because it has been consuming and degrading the natural resources that maintain it. In this way, it is necessary that the government formulate public policies to enhance the sustainable development of agriculture. Among these policies, the 2015/2016 Agricultural and Livestock Plan (PAP) stands out in this study, plan which aims to finance the sector and guide agricultural investments during the agricultural year. The objective of this study was to analyze how sustainability is addressed in the 2015/2016 PAP, considering the three dimensions of the sustainable development tripod: social, environmental and economic. For this, a descriptive qualitative analysis of the PAP was performed, adopting content analysis techniques. With the historical analysis of the last five plans, it was noticed that more resources are passed on to the sector every year and the production always sets records, affirming the agribusiness growth trend. Some PAP programs have stood out, such as the Low Carbon Agriculture Program and Moderagro, financing projects that encourage sustainable production practices. The other programs seek to induce, as a priority, the increase of production through the use of new technologies, reinforcing the propensity of the current agricultural model not to prioritize self-sufficiency, but in the predominance of monocultures. Considering the three dimensions of sustainable development, the one that stood out most in the 2015/2016 PAP was the economic one, since the main focus of public power, and of society in general, has been the economic issues, keeping the PAP oriented by values and practices to generate foreign exchange, even though at the expense of social development and environmental preservation and conservation. The environmental dimension was present in the PAP, being related to some programs that encourage the care and recovery of natural resources, but it is not questioned what measures would be adopted so that the modernization of the sector does not compromise the natural resources. The social dimension has been little addressed in the plan, indicating that despite the large volume of resources allocated to the sector, the social impacts of the changes that such investments will provide are not considered. It is noticed, in the PAPs, that the governmental discourse on sustainable development does not consider the complexity of such concept or the economic, environmental and social issues involved, causing the term to lose its original meaning and become just another resource to legitimize actions, even though they are not considering issues related to sustainability. Given the need to address social and environmental aspects in this plan, it is suggested to adopt sustainability indicators as a tool, in policies and in their respective programs, to direct resources to activities that are environmentally and socially adequate, contributing to a sustainable agricultural production.