The Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Juan José Bahillo, presented this Wednesday to the authorities of the member entities of the Liaison Table the Strengthening Plan for Small and Medium Producers, for farmers who have planted up to 200 hectares of soybeans and /o 100 hectares of corn in the 2021/22 campaign.
“Our proposal is to be able to work together to implement it for the benefit of producers,” said Bahillo during a meeting held at the rural portfolio headquarters, with the participation of the presidents of the Agrarian Federation (FAA), Carlos Achetoni; of Rural Confederations (CRA), Jorge Chemes; from the Rural Society (SRA), Nicolás Pino; and the vice president of Coninagro, Elbio Laucirica.
The official invited the representatives of the agricultural entities to “provide initiatives aimed at strengthening the measure.”
The plan of Strengthening Small and Medium Producers was announced by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, on September 30 and It will consist of financing for those farmers who have not participated in the Export Increase Program (PIE) and have marketed up to 85% of their corn and/or soybean holdings.
The program will have an item for 42,000 million pesos whose funds come from the extra collection of the so-called “soy dollar.”
During the meeting, the current situation of livestock was also addressed, characterized by a higher average slaughter weight.
We also address the situation of livestock, whose average slaughter weight is at the record of the last 100 years.
We are convinced that dialogue with everyone who is part of the sector is the ideal way to achieve the best public policies.
– Juan José Bahillo (@JuanjoBahillo) October 12, 2022
“Today we have the highest average slaughter weight in the last 100 years”, highlighted Bahillo explaining that “during this month it reached 237 kg, five kilos more than last year”.
After the meeting, the head of the CRA, Jorge Chemes explained that there was “an exchange of technical information between the parties and they are working on a subsidy system for corn and soybeans and they needed to exchange numbers to see what production can be achieved.”
However, from the entities it is sought that the limit to access the Strengthening Plan exceeds the hectareaje arranged, an issue that they expressed to Bahillo.
In this sense, the president of the FAA, Carlos Achetoni, maintained that “there are issues that must come together, above all, how much scope this initiative will have for small producers, but also on dairy farmers and regional economies.”
“What we know is that we have to continue insisting on improvements to those productions that were not reached by the soybean dollar,” Achetoni remarked.
In addition, he stressed that the entity he chairs requested that the measure “consider the producer who sold very little during the validity of the soybean dollar and that he not be excluded, as well as the respective possession, because it is not the same 85 % ownership of a small producer than a large one”.
To its turn, the president of the SRA, Nicolás Pinoindicated that the problem with this type of measure lies in the existing “distortions” in the grain markets.
“Every market that is intervened, if later something is wanted to be fixed, one thing is fixed but, at the same time, another breaks down. We agree on the measures that can favor the producer, but obviously it is a system that the Government has, and with all their rights, but the partial corrections mean that some have benefits and others do not”, he explained.
In this sense, he concluded: “We listen, we give our opinion and we intervene, but the power lies with the government.”
On the other hand, the agricultural leaders indicated that the Government summoned the wheat chain to analyze the current situation of the crop in the context of a severe drought that generates successive cuts in production estimates.
The meeting will take place this Thursday in the national portfolio.
Bahillo was accompanied at the meeting by the Undersecretary of Livestock, José María Romero; the one of Agriculture, Delfo Buchaillot; and the chief of staff, Juan Manuel Fernández Arocena.
