Lupi Martins
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Porto Alegre – In the city of Esteio, 25km from Porto Alegre, southern region of Brazil, rural producers are getting ready for a protest this Tuesday (31) against rice importation from Uruguay and Argentina.

According to the President of the Federation of Rice Producers of Rio Grande do Sul (Federarroz), Valter Pötter, 500 tractors, 200 trucks, and three thousand people are expected at the protest, which will "invade" Porto Alegre.

Valter Pötter informed that producers will hand a document to the Superintendent of the Federal Revenue and Customs Secretariat in the state, Luiz Jair Cardoso, addressed to the Minister of Finance, Antonio Palocci, requesting a meeting with him.

The President of Federarroz explained that the objective is to turn public the producers’ dissatisfaction with the government’s lack of attention to their requests, since September, to stop importation of rice from Uruguay and Argentina, as well as to the urgent need for change in the sector’s policies.

Pötter said that half of last crop was sold at a loss, and the same is happening with the one that has just been harvested, plus there are still 1.5 million tons stocked from last year’s crop. "We have tried a solution with several Ministers, but nothing has been done," concluded.

Translation: Andréa Alves