The challenges of Brazilian agricultural production, taking into account the almost 16 thousand kilometers of border areas in 588 Brazilian municipalities, as well as the spatial dimensions of the productive areas of the country and the illegal trade of inputs and pesticides and seeds were the subjects of the Webinar "Illegal market of pesticides and seeds in Brazil", promoted by the Permanent College of Directors of State Schools of Magistracy (COPEDEM), in partnership with the Superior School of Magistracy of Tocantins (ESMAT) and the Center for Legal Memory (MEMORY). The event is the first debate on fighting piracy in Brazil promoted by Copedem.
At the opening, the General Director of Esmat, Judge Marco Villas Boas, pointed out that the use of unregistered inputs in production may be tainted by criminal attitudes that aim for easy profit without worrying about people and agricultural production. "Many times people don't stop to think that by using these products they put at risk the final production project, impacting the economy and the state tax collection, besides the perspective of causing damage to the Environment and to people's lives", he said.
For Judge Laurindo de Souza Netto, president of the Court of Justice of the State of Paraná (TJPR), the country faces a great challenge in the use of pesticides and inputs through a sophisticated logistics scheme by counterfeiters, many of them linked to drug trafficking. "The fragility of the borders exposes the national agriculture and there is no measure of the damage. The entry of pesticides is not a border problem; however, it goes through the border and becomes part of other smuggling. Furthermore, there is a greater damage that is not measured, especially in the cultivation of food, and these harmful effects threaten the economic order, the tax system, the formal economy, and job creation," he said.
In continuation, Doctor Guilherme Vargas da Costa, executive secretary of the National Council to Combat Piracy and Crimes against Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Justice, recalled the fight against piracy using attitudes of repression, education, and training. "Only simple repression is not enough, there is a need for training public agents, as well as demonstrating to society the harm and damage caused by piracy," he recalled.
Dr. Christian Lohbauer, president of Croplife Brazil, concluded the explanations with a reminder that Brazil has a defensives, biodefensives and seeds market of 16 billion dollars a year, and that it has a strict and efficient national legislation. He emphasized that it is necessary to work with communication and awareness campaigns. "If this market exists it is because someone is buying it. The process is much more complex. We have to convince everyone that it is not worth it, and it is a difficult process," he said.
For those interested in reviewing or watching the lectures, the content will be available on Copedem's channel, on the Youtube Platform.
