He agricultural sector is before a bankruptcy threat because it will not be able to meet its financial commitments, there are already cases of despair among basic grain farmers in the face of up to 40 percent increase in production costs and one decrease in sales pricesassured Luis Eduardo González Cepeda, president of the Mexican Union of Manufacturers and Formulators of Agrochemicals AC (UMFFAAC).
“The field can be left empty of farmers because it is no longer a business. They are going to look for work elsewhere, to the cities or abroad and that can become a social problem”, he indicates.
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González Cepeda explained that this situation is also exacerbated by the disappearance of institutions, lack of support and public policiesthat the only thing they reflect at this time is, according to the president of said organization, the contempt of the federal government towards farmers
“This is an eminently agricultural country. That’s where we eat, that’s where we export, that’s where we’ve grown a lot and if we don’t pay attention to it, it’s going to become a social problem,” he warned.
Likewise, he maintained that one of the main problems in the field is that it is not profitable and the agricultural producerswhich are the starting point of the productive chain, in the sowing They had increases of up to 40 percent.
The harvest is ready, he details, the prices of grains such as wheat, barley, corn, among others, fell and no support programs to get out of this crisis.
In this situation, farmers will not be able to meet their financial commitments such as the payment of credits and much less, access to new loans, which puts them between a rock and a hard place, he said.
The UMFFAAC leader highlighted that the field also suffers losses at the international level, after in the first quarter of the year, the commercial balance of the agri-food balance collapse again compared to 2022 by more than 700 million dollars.
He pointed out that during the January-March period there was an agricultural and fishing trade balance of two thousand 020 million dollars, while in the same period of 2022, the balance was two thousand 724 million dollars.
“One of the main reasons for this drop was the increase in purchases of corn abroad. In the first quarter of 2022, 1,296 million dollars were purchased. And in the same period this year, imports were in the order of 1.794 billion dollars, almost 500 million dollars more”.
He noted that one of the problems is that more than 70 percent of farmers are low-income and they cultivate less than five hectares, or do not have a tractor, or access to technology.
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“And now we take away real support for development in the countryside. They are given a subsidy, but as a gift and not as technical support, for growth, technology support, to get ahead. That is the problem that the small farmer has”, said the engineer González Cepeda.
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2023-05-29 23:50:59
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