Policy, Technology, and Efficiency of Brazilian Agriculture

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

Comparative Analysis of Agricultural Credit System and Organization in Selected Countries

“…Over three-quarters of the investment credit disbursed between 1985 and 2006 has been issued to the livestock sector, boosting livestock's credit investments by 4.7% annually, more than double the investment credit allocations for crops during the same period. The livestock sector's greater growth in investment credit indicates Brazil's priority of modernizing livestock production [48].…”

“…Rural credit is provided by credit cooperatives and by the commercial banks, participants in the National Rural Credit System (NRCS). NRCS was created in 1965 to quicken capital formation in exportable farm products [48]. The rules and conditions to be observed regarding loans are established by the National Monetary Council (NMC), which is a body connected to the Finance Ministry and the application of these rules and conditions is examined by the Central Bank [49].…”

“…Government subsidized rural credit represents about a third of the total credit needs of the agricultural sector in Brazil. The private sector (private banks, input providers, brokers, and farmers) provides the rest, a change from pre-1994 reforms when the Brazilian Government provided the bulk of the credit needs [48]. The rural credit program works by granting subsidized interest rates of 3% for small farmers and family farmers, and a general agricultural credit rate of 6.75%.…”

“…Source: [43] Available data show that the agricultural sector in Nigeria, Kenya, Mali and Sudan benefited substantially from commercial banks' lending from 2005. Short term credit and intermediate term credit are used for obtaining farm inputs such as fertilizer, improved seeds, breeding livestock and farm machinery, while long term credit is used for real-estate financing [48]. Credit inadequacy has been a problem militating against the development of the rural farmers in the world at large and Nigeria in particular.…”

The impact of government subsidies on the olive and vineyard sectors of Albanian agriculture

“…By contrast, Huang et al (2011), analysing the impact of China's agricultural subsidies, found that input subsidies appear to be non-distorting in terms of producer decisions. Rada and Valdes (2012) showed that the benefi ts of agricultural research have been most rapidly adopted by the most effi cient farms, while other public policies including rural credit and infrastructure investments, favoured 'average' producers. Minviel and Latruff e (2014) found that targeted investment subsidies were positively associated with farm's technical effi ciency, while Bojnec and Latruff e (2013) found that agricultural subsidies reduced the technical effi ciency of Slovenian farms but improved their profi tability.…”