Miguel Marín urged cocoa producers to unionize and defend their rights in favor of better grain prices before the marketers
The Secretary of Food of the Government of Miranda State, Miguel Marin, denied this Thursday, July 7, that this instance seeks to control or impose the prices of cocoa for its commercialization and asserted that rather it is intended to encourage producers to be able to Fight for better prices.
Marin, in an interview with VTV, commented that this is one of the problems that exist in the cocoa industry and highlighted that it is a current debate that is carried out with the marketers of the product, in order to be able to pay a better price for the grain. That, in his opinion, requires that there be a greater organization on the part of the producers.
“If the marketer buys independently from the producers, that historical drama will continue (…) where the one who has the capital ends up paying what he wants. Producers must organize themselves into associations, communes (…) that allow them to defend the product themselves », he pointed out.
He recalled that it is a “commodity” that is regulated by the New York Stock Exchange and on that, price reference is made. Marín said that they have denounced this situation and stressed that they have only tried to get the producers to take a more active role in defending their interests.
*Also read: In Barlovento they continue to cling to the tradition of growing cocoa
He stressed that they work hand in hand with a little more than 6,000 cocoa producers in Barlovento to develop and optimize crops, for which he indicated that the objective is to achieve the renewal of 15% of the surface of the plantations through the installation of artisanal or semi-industrial nurseries, which allowed them to go hand in hand with small producers in several municipalities such as Acevedo, Páez and Pedro Gual to be able to produce more than 200 thousand cocoa plants.
They also work hand in hand with a table of more than 70 specialists to care for crops, carry out good practices and control pests that can harm the cocoa bean; just as they seek to join forces in order to improve factors such as roads.
He warned that they only reach six associations and there are many cocoa producers who are not organized and who must consolidate into groups so that the workload is less and actions that benefit the entire cocoa community are facilitated.
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