Nearly 24,000 dairy farmers in the department of Nariño and 19,000 in Cauca are at risk of facing an economic crisis due to the closure of the Pan-American Highway, caused by a landslide in the municipality of Roses (Cauca).
(Pan-American Highway closed: they lose $20,000 million daily in freight).
Nariño has established itself as one of the dairy basins in Colombia where around 360,000 liters are produced daily, which are about to be lost due to the impossibility of traveling through the only way that this area has to communicate with the rest of the country. .
“Nariño only has one communication route, which is the Panamericana, so there is no way to get the milk to other departments. The alternate routes that are being enabled for the circulation of vehicles do not allow the passage of heavy loads, which is where the milk is transported.”explained José Félix Lafaurie Rivera, executive president of the Colombian Federation of Cattlemen (Fedegán).
The union leader added that “Nariño farmers experience a worrying feeling of uncertainty at not being able to take the milk to the interior of the country. On the other hand, in Cauca the difficulties have to do with removing cattle for meat production. The producers in both departments are very small and their livelihood is at risk.”
“They fear that shipments will be dammed and this will cause large companies to lower their milk purchase quotas, thus generating an oversupply of production”said José Luis Bernal Romero, executive director of the Society of Farmers and Ranchers of Nariño (Sagán).
(‘Before a month there will be no passage through the Pan-American Highway’: Petro).
Despite the fact that the situation is mainly affecting dairy farmers, the almost 45,000 people who make up the livestock census in Nariño are also being affected by the closure of the Pan-American Highway, as inputs for production are already beginning to be scarce.
“Some of the agro-input stores have inventories, but others are already suffering from shortages of food products, supplementation and fertilizers for pastures, among other inputs”added Bernal Romero.
Delicate situation in Cauca
On the other hand, Clímaco Eduardo Nates López, member of the Board of Directors of Fedegán for the Cauca and Valle del Cauca region, assured that “We ranchers are currently feeling a great impact from the landslide.”
“From the landslide to the north there is no problem because there is a way through the Pan-American highway. What is serious is the collapse down because there is an area that is blocked and is extremely important for Cauca: the Patía Valley, since it mainly produces beef cattle, and the exit of the animals is completely blocked. added.
(Airlines increase offer to mitigate emergency in Nariño and Cauca).
He added that there is paralysis and serious affectations in the beef cattle business in southern Cauca and milk production in Nariño. “The traffic jam is in the middle of the Cauca map, the southern half, where Nariño is included, is the most affected.”
Nates López stated that in terms of milk production, it has also been affected and even more so because milk produced in the department is processed in northern Cauca and Valle del Cauca.
“So, when the farmers want to bring the milk, they can’t because the road is closed. Milk production in northern Cauca has not had a major problem. The difficulty has been for the farmers in the south of the department and Nariño, which produces a large amount of milk,” held.
BRIEFCASE
