Brasília, July 1, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - By 2007, Brazil should manage to replant the same amount of forest as it cuts down for wood and plant by-products. At present, 500 thousand hectares of forest are cut down, and 350 thousand are replanted. "This deficit should be reduced, year by year, with the help of technical and financial assistance to small and medium producers," predicted the director of the Ministry of Environment's National Forest Program, Tasso de Azevedo.

Credit will come from programs like the National Family Forest Farming Program (Pronaf Florestal), which will lend between US$ 649 (R$ 2 thousand) and US$ 1.9 thousand (R$ 6 thousand) for reforestation, at an annual interest rate of 4.25% and an eight-year grace period. "Other programs will provide larger amounts of credit, to producer cooperatives as well," the director observed, recalling that the Pronaf Florestal loan will not hamper participation in the regular Pronaf, intended for crop cultivation.

Technical assistance for reforestation is already available in the Atlantic Rain Forest and will reach the Amazon and the Scrublands through various organizations. "In the south of Pará, the consumption of wood, converted into charcoal, is great; in Mato Grosso and Rondônia, wood is important for drying grains. In the Northeast Scrublands, wood is important in the production of manioc meal, ceramics, and plaster," Azevedo remarked.

Reporter: Milena Galdino
Translator: David Silberstein