Unveiling the future of Agribanking: Bradesco

In an exclusive interview with Nadege Saad, Head of E-agro at Bradesco, we gain insights into the agricultural banking landscape in Brazil, with a focus on sustainability, digitalization and support for smallholder farmers, while highlighting the innovative projects and partnerships that are shaping the sector's future.


Could you briefly provide information about the agricultural banking landscape in your region, highlighting any unique challenges the sector needs to deal with?

Agribusiness is one of the main pillars of our economy and we believe that Brazil will increasingly be a protagonist in the role of feeding the world, expanding its participation in global production, whether of grains or animal protein. The sector is very relevant for Bradesco, so much so that we have invested in the development of new technologies such as the E-agro platform, new products aimed at the segment, and in expanding and training our teams to provide more agile service to rural producers. Furthermore, Bradesco surpassed BRL 100 billion in credit released to the Brazilian agribusiness chain this year, acting as a digital and financial partner for rural producers.

It is worth highlighting that in recent years, despite the achievements in advances in the supply of credit and competition in this modality, not all instruments created benefited all producers, especially small and medium-sized ones. A survey by the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation and the National Rural Learning Service, in 2021, identified the main difficulties in accessing rural credit, which were: excessive bureaucracy, required guarantees, delay in releasing credit and lack of information. In this sense, the two entities saw it as necessary to facilitate access to credit by simplifying the process and having more disclosure, guidance and clarity in information. Another important point highlighted by the report is the need to increase the availability of ‘mandatory resources’, coming from demand deposits or rural savings, to fund rural credit. About three years ago, we had the approval of a federal law (Law 13.986) that authorizes the issuance of Rural Product Certificates (CPR), with a correction clause for exchange rate variation, which enables the issuance of Agribusiness Receivables Certificates (CRAs), Agribusiness Letters of Credit (LCAs) and Agribusiness Credit Rights Certificates (CDCAs), promoting adjustments that facilitate the issuance of these securities. In this sense, the expectation is that they will intensify their contribution to rural credit funding.