BRAZIL'S MINISTER for agriculture Reinhold Stephanes has said he is confident his country will be exporting beef to the EU from all regions of Brazil by the end of the year, overcoming trade restrictions forced in part by claims made by the Irish Farmers' Association.
Referring to the IFA's unofficial visit to Brazil, he told The Irish Timesthat "illegal actions" by the association had led to the ban which has seen Brazil, the biggest beef-exporting country in the world, having to cut back dramatically on exports to the EU.
Currently Brazil can only send beef from just over 100 of its farms to Europe. These have traceability systems that will allow limited exports to continue until the EU validates a new safety system.
However, during an interview with visiting European agriculture journalists, the minister laid the blame for the imposition of the ban at the feet of the IFA, describing its claims as wrong and unfair. "Commissioner Kypranio told me that Europe was very interested in importing beef from Brazil but he was under very strong pressure from the Irish farmers and that was the reason why the ban was imposed," he said.
"This report made on controls in Brazil was an 'outlaw report' because no one knew they were visiting Brazil. But this report had an impact on MEPs and EU officialdom despite the fact it was illegal," he said.
He said that last month the Brazilian government invited the agriculture committee of the European Parliament to visit Brazil and inspect farms to see if their traceability systems were up to European standards.
"We wanted to show them that the report compiled by Irish farmers was not accurate. Not even the minister for agriculture can enter a Brazilian farm without permission, but they did," he said.
"They did not go to an organised farm or a farm exporting beef or a meat plant which was exporting."
He said that when a delegation from the parliament had visited the area in the last 10 days, it had been very impressed by the controls it had seen in place in Brazil which now exports beef to more than 150 countries.
However, challenged that all farms there should be operating at a level of biosecurity which would allow inspection by anyone at any time, the minister admitted that this should be the case.
"We were unaware of the level of controls the EU people wanted but they too are unaware of the kind of farming we operate here. It is much easier to operate a checking system in Europe than on our ranch land here," he said.
"However, despite the levels of checks required by the EU which we now understand, we are confident that we will be able to meet these requirements by the end of the year," he said.
The minister, who is also a farmer, said a lack of comprehension of how beef-rearing was carried out in his country was "close to the heart" of the difficulties between Brazil and the EU.
The IFA had highlighted the lack of controls on farms it visited last year and the danger posed to Europe from foot-and-mouth disease in the southern states.