The regulation of the commercialization of palm oil in the state of Pará has a date to begin: May 2, 2024, when the rule that establishes the mandatory registration of areas for the cultivation, processing and transportation of oil palm fruit (popularly known as dendê), the species that gives rise to palm oil, comes into force.
As of this date, inspectors from the Pará State Agricultural Defense Agency (Adepará) and state security forces - the civil and military police - will be working to regulate the transportation of palm oil. The initiative has the support of the Brazilian Association of Palm Oil Producers (Abrapalma) and its members.
The action is part of a larger strategy, built in 2023 and launched in January this year with Ordinance No. 6143/2023, to map, register and track the production of bunches of fresh oil palm fruit, by collecting a fee and issuing a Plant Transit Guide (GTV).
"As has happened in other production chains with the implementation of the tool, the producer will be able to provide information on the origin, destination and quantity of items transported and, in return, the state will guarantee legal certainty for the market, especially when strategies for tracking and certifying products from the Amazon are being discussed at a global level," says Carlos Xavier, who chairs the Pará Agriculture Federation (Federação da Agricultura no Pará - FAPA).
"The GTV is an important instrument not only for guaranteeing traceability and combating fruit detour, but also for creating a database of the sector and enabling the creation of public policies aimed at the palm sector," says Victor Almeida, president of Abrapalma.
Registration is already underway by Adepará, which has prioritized small and medium-sized producers and has had the support of Abrapalma and its ten members. According to the Agency's schedule, the goal is to reach 1,267 productive farms in 32 municipalities in Pará by the time the GTV comes into force on May 1, 2024.
According to Lucionila Pimentel, Adepará's director of Plant Protection and Inspection, the tool will bring greater control, transparency and sustainability to the production chain, further boosting the sale of palm fruit in the state. "The transportation of bunches of fruit can only take place when a plant transit permit is issued and the inspection will monitor companies, transporters and other agents in the production chain in relation to the quantities transported. So the product that leaves the field and enters the industries will be closely monitored, reinforcing the quality, origin and traceability of the final product," he says.
PRODUCTIVE SECTOR
Fábio Pacheco, agricultural director of Grupo BBF and vice-president of Abrapalma, emphasizes that the Plant Transit Guide will be fundamental for investigating and combating the serious crimes that affect the economy of several municipalities, since the tracking of cargoes will make it possible to connect the authorship and materiality of illicit acts and thus eradicate the illegal trade in oil palm from invaded lands, which harms companies, workers and society as a whole.
"This is what we expect from the government as an organized sector that acts within the law: to guarantee the safety and integrity of the entire palm production chain in the state. In Pará alone we have more than two hundred thousand hectares of plantations linked to Abrapalma which, pressured by the advance of disorderly occupation of productive areas, are under constant phytosanitary threats that could impact various crops such as açaí, cocoa, Brazil nuts, cupuaçu, coconut and pupunha", he says.
Grupo BBF is one of the main oil palm producers in Pará, with more than 60,000 hectares under cultivation and incentives for more than 400 farmers who are part of the company's Family Farming Program. Oil palm - The oil palm crop, popularly known as dendê, gives rise to the most widely consumed vegetable oil in the world and is very important for the state's agricultural development. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the state of Pará produces more than 2.9 million tons of oil palm every year and leads national production.
Read the full article at: https://correioparaense.com.br/2024/04/30/adepara-reforca-combate-ao-comercio-ilegal-e-dende-a-partir-de-maio/
