The credit is part of the Ministry of Agrarian Development’s “More Food Programme” and will be supported by technical assistance.

The funds will come from the Foreign Trade Board (Camex), and will take the form of concessional loans. The loans will be paid off over seventeen years with a five year grace period, and incur an interest rate of two per cent.

Camex also announced that it is to extend a 70 million dollar credit under the scheme to Cuba.

The programme began in 2008 as a mechanism for supporting the small scale farming sector in Brazil. Last year the scheme was extended to African nations, with Zimbabwe and Ghana being the first to benefit.

So far, the More Food Programme has invested 2.3 billion dollars in farming in Brazil. It has a budget of 640 million dollars for 2011 - 2012 for supporting farmers outside of Brazil.