The goals of the National Biodiesel Program: between planning and implementation

Abstract

This work evaluated whether the main goals established by the National Program for the Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) were achieved between 2004 and 2018. For this purpose, reports and surveys prepared by public agencies and soybean producers were used. The results reveal that expectations of improvement in living conditions in rural areas stemming from PNPB implementation were frustrated: there were job losses in agricultural occupations, continuity of rural exodus, increase in land concentration, reduction in the contingent of family farmers, non-inclusion of poor family farmers from the North and Northeast regions. Of the original PNPB goals, only the minimum percentage of biodiesel to diesel was achieved satisfactorily, but dependence on imported diesel increased, even with the development of biodiesel production.