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Brazil to become grain bank for the world
Middle East News.Net
Thursday 3rd July, 2008
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has announced an initiative, involving an investment of US$49 billion, to make Brazil the 'granary of the world.'
President Lula has told a gathering in the southern city of Curitiba that world food shortages will open up opportunities for Brazil but also for other South American and African countries.
He added that to help those countries increase their agricultural production, Brazil set up offices of its agricultural research service Embrapa in Ghana and Venezuela.
According to the agriculture ministry, the plan, announced Wednesday, is aimed at increasing the 2007-2008 harvest by five percent from 144.3 million tonnes, according to official figures.
The last harvest was 8.4 percent larger than the one for the 2006-2007 season, which had been the largest in the country's history.
Brazil, which is already the world's largest exporter of products such as beef, chicken, soy, sugar, coffee and orange juice, is one of the few countries that can significantly increase its cultivated area.
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