The meeting between the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massaand the leaders of the Liaison Table It concluded with the official promise that the claimed measures to deal with the consequences of the drought will be in place on February 1, without delay. At the same time, the agricultural leadership harshly warned the minister of the seriousness of the situation, stressing that the damage caused by the lack of rainfall is not limited to the sector but will impact the entire economy.
In the run-up to the meeting with Sergio Massa, the field called for “urgent measures” to face the drought
The leaders of the Liaison Table met today and defined the agenda of issues that will be raised tomorrow before the Minister of Economy. In a press conference, they warned about the difficult situation that the sector is going through from a climatic and economic point of view.
As Massa expressed before the representatives of the field, the situation requires “a macro view and a quick response”, for which he urged a joint work of “no more than 5 days”, so that “On February 1 we all have to give answers to this situation. It is a job and a shared effort, zone by zone and activity by activity”. Next Monday, the days of the meetings will be defined to define the issues to be resolved, with an eye on tax, financial and other tools that producers need to face the drought.
Before entering the meeting, held at the INTA headquarters in Castelar, the members of the Liaison Table harshly warned of the consequences of the drought for the countryside and the national economy, which they quantified in losses of USD 15,000 million for this year. .
In the midst of the drama due to the drought, Massa announced that he will convene the Liaison Table
The Minister of Economy, in an exclusive dialogue with this medium, mentioned the decision to meet with the leaders of the field. He also referred to the situation of wheat and the regional economies
That was the figure provided by the president of Coninagro, Elbio Laucirica,: “Even if it rained 100 millimeters tomorrow, there is damage that is already irreversible and that makes us foresee a loss of 15,000 million dollars for the country.”
“We are going to have a decrease in foreign currency income from the wheat harvest, which has practically been reduced to 50 percent. This is going to affect the economies of the interior, ”said Laucirica, who nevertheless said that he does not lose optimism about aid measures:“ We have been talking with the secretary Juan Jose Bahillo and today we hope that there will be definitions when we speak with the minister”.
Drought: Sergio Massa will meet with the Liaison Table tomorrow in San Pedro
The meeting will be held at the INTA facilities in that town. The Secretary of Agriculture and other national officials will also participate.
The leader participated in the meeting together with Carlos Achetonipresident of the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA); Jorge ChemesPresident of the Argentine Rural Confederations (CRA), and Nicholas Pino, president of the Argentine Rural Society (SRA). For the official sector, together with Massa and the Secretary of Agriculture, Juan Jose Bahillo The Secretary of Industry, Jose Ignacio de Mendigurenthe head of the AFIP, Carlos Castagnetto and officials from Banco Nación, Customs, the Central Bank and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).
At the end of the meeting, the president of the CRA, Jorge Chemes, commented that a work methodology was agreed with the national officials with meetings for each item in relation to the claims raised by the field leadership. “From the meetings, which may also be technical, they will take place within the next week, because the most important thing that was announced is that concrete measures will be seen on February 1. I don’t know if all the ones we need”.
In addition, he pointed out that the objective of the field leaders is to “provide a diagnosis of the cruelty that the producer is experiencing with this drought and to become aware of the level of losses that the field is going to have. This is day by day, as time goes by the situation worsens. Y it is very difficult to recover no matter how much it rains. If we had had defined state policies, with predictability, we would not be experiencing this situation,” said the leader.
“Even if it rained 100 millimeters tomorrow, there is damage that is already irreversible and that makes us foresee a loss of 15,000 million dollars for the country” (Elbio Laucirica)
The agricultural leadership had not hidden the intention that this meeting lead to concrete measures to deal with the climate situation. They had made it known like this yesterday at a press conference given by the Liaison Table, after a meeting of almost three hours in which the strategy to talk with Massa was drawn up.
“If the minister summoned us, more than to talk about the situation, surely something will come up,” said the president of the SRA, Nicolás Pino, upon arriving at the INTA-Castelar headquarters. “This year will be difficult not only for producers but for the whole society. That is why we are asking the minister for concrete measures to alleviate this situation, ”he added.
At the same time, Pino reiterated that the entities are not abandoning their request for the elimination of withholdings: “The discussion about export duties will always be on the table, because in situations like these it is seen to be the most distorting tax. Many wheat farmers finished harvesting their wheat with a 50% loss and it’s amazing that those export duties are still there.”
On the other hand, Carlos Achetoni, highest authority of the Agrarian Federation, commented that during the meeting the Government conveyed the feeling that it is aware of the seriousness of the problem that caused the lack of rainfall, and added: “The pressing situation of the producer they have in mind and the answers that the officials can give us will depend on that.”
The Liaison Table had anticipated yesterday in a statement what their claims will be to take Massa to him. The document noted that among the main measures that demand is to expedite the Declarations of Emergency and Local, Provincial and National Agricultural Disaster; the suspension of advances of Income Tax; extensions or exemption depending on the case of Provincial taxes, and forced sale of wombs, for the calculation of the Income Tax. Added to all this is the proposal that has been made for a long time, but in more depth in recent days, is to lower the tax pressure, since leaders and specialists maintain that in times of drought the weight of taxes is increased, especially in relation to withholdings, as highlighted by Pino.
The leaders of the four entities, who in turn are under pressure from small producers who tend to criticize the meetings with officials without concrete resolutions, asked yesterday that the Government implement “concrete and urgent measures” fiscal relief and financing to face the drought. To the statements based on the lower level of production, exports and foreign currency income, they added concern for the future of food prices, given a lower supply of products that there will be due to the drought.
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