Brazil's Senate approved a rural debt renegotiation bill on Wednesday, a day after the Chamber of Deputies, and sent it to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has not said whether he will sign it. He has 15 working days from formal receipt to sign or veto.
The measure began as a provisional decree, MP 1.376/2026, and became bill PLV 16/2026. It lets producers and co-operatives hit by extreme weather between 2019 and 2025 refinance rural debt on preferential terms.
Under the standard terms, interest runs from 5% to 12% a year, with two years of interest-only payments and up to eight more years to repay the principal. Producers qualify if they can show a loss of at least 30% of expected gross farm income, or 25% in the Sudam, Sudene and Sudeco regional development areas.
Farmers who lost three or more harvests, with income losses of at least 40% (35% in those regions), get a separate track: repayment over up to 10 years at 5%, 8% or 11% a year depending on the loan size, instead of 6%, 9% or 12%.
Limits differ by credit line. Family farmers under Pronaf can refinance up to 400,000 reais, about 72,000 dollars, at 6%, or 5% on the severe-loss track with a cap of 500,000 reais. Medium producers under Pronamp can refinance up to 2 million reais, about 360,000 dollars, at 9%, or 8% with a cap of 2.5 million reais. Other producers can refinance up to 4 million reais, about 719,000 dollars, at 12%, or 11% with a cap of 8 million reais.
Senator Tereza Cristina of Mato Grosso do Sul said the measure "is not the definitive solution" to farm debt, and Senator Jaime Bagattoli of Rondônia called it a stopgap. Neither said what a lasting fix would look like.
Photo: Uaequals42 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Global Agriculture
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