The Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, Fernando Pimentel, and the Minister of International Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba, Rodrigo Malmierca, signed a memorandum of understanding on August 30, 2012 in Havana, providing for a US$ 200 million loan to implement the More Food for Cuba program. The funds will be released in three installments – the first in 2012 and the next two in 2013 – and will serve to finance exports of Brazilian agricultural machinery and equipment. The More Food Program aims to ensure food security in Cuba.

Cuba was the first country outside the African continent to seek cooperation to improve the sector, along the lines of the More Food for Africa program. With this project, the Brazilian government will assist existing Cuban programs to achieve food security targets, increase levels of mechanization in family farming and, accordingly, to increase productivity. The proposal is to support the existing Cuban model, bringing together the provision of training and technology transfer, in addition to establishing a partnership with the Brazilian government concerning public policy for the development of family agriculture and the ability to obtain financing for the purchase of machinery for the sector.

More food - Coordinated by the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA), the More Food Program is a financing facility for family farming, established in Brazil in 2008.  The program aims to promote the productive modernization of agricultural households throughout the country. To increase cooperation with African countries, the government created the More Food for Africa program, inspired by the successful initiative adopted at a national level. Through the program, the federal government finances Brazilian exports of agricultural machinery and equipment intended for family farming.

04 September 2012