Porto Alegre, February 23, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - It is in the federal government's interest to preserve Parmalat's installations in Brazil, in order to guarantee dairy production, milk consumption, farmers' income, and workers' jobs. This affirmation was made on Thursday (19) by the Minister of Agrarian Development, Miguel Rossetto, in this capital, where he received a proposal from a commission formed by Rio Grande do Sul dairy farmers who are worried about what will happen to the Italian company's installations in the state.

"We regard the dairy sector as a strategic area from the point of view of work and income for thousands of farmers, as well as consumption of the product by the Brazilian population," the Minister explained, as he urged the farmers to join efforts to take over and share Parmalat's productive capacity in Carazinho, in the north of the state. According to Rossetto, the government does not look kindly on the prospects of greater concentration in milk processing and distribution.

"We are stimulating -- and we think it is a healthy thing -- a regionalized, decentralized process to maintain the operations of Parmalat's units in the country," the Minister declared. He informed that in the South, as part of this strategy, the Ministry of Agrarian Development is encouraging integration among cooperatives, which have the experience, knowledge, and capacity to take on this new task.

Member of the dairy farmers' commission handed the Minister a proposal for the legal format and financial, administrative, and managerial organization of the enterprise they want to see established in Carazinho, Parmalat's largest complex in Latin America. Rossetto told them he would deliver the document to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Friday (20), at the Grape Festival in Caxias do Sul (RS). (DAS)