Rosamélia de Abreu
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Over 50 thousand family farmers and their families will be able to make more money by growing crops intended for use in biodiesel production. According to the coordinator of the Ministry of Agrarian Development's Biodiesel Program, Arnoldo de Campos, 17 thousand families are currently planting dendê palms, sunflowers, castor-oil plants, and soybeans for biodiesel production.

According to Campos, the National Family Farming Program (Pronaf) has US$ 41.9 million (R$ 100 million) to distribute in loans to these producers. "Farmers will have access to a new line of credit to begin cultivating oil-seed crops, without interfering with the crops they already cultivate, such as corn, rice, or beans. The new loan will not prejudice the resources they have already requested for their traditional crops. It is an additional line of credit."

Translation: David Silberstein