At the gates of the rice harvest, in the first half of the year, the union in Cesar shows its concern about the few existing guarantees in the sector to maintain the supply of the product and have food security.
Although today, the Cesar rice farmers’ union will not join the national march called by Fedearroz, they make their complaints public and demand dialogue and concertation from the national government in search of the best solution.
Jairo Chimá Coneo, manager of Fedearroz in Cesar, stated that at the regional level a great harvest is on the verge of a large harvest involving 6,000 hectares that cover the south of La Guajira (Fonseca, Distracción and Barrancas) and the rest in the north of the Cesar, which includes Valledupar, La Jagua de Ibirico, Becerril, Bosconia and El Paso, covering a total of approximately 300 farmers.
“There is uncertainty regarding the issue of prices, harvesting of the harvest has not started and they have fallen by 22%. The National Rice Council analyzes the links in the production chain in order to reach a consensus with the national government, to achieve the storage incentive that will guarantee rice supplies, otherwise it will cause a negative impact.” said
He assured that another of the difficulties is the issue of weather, there is a lot of rain and producers have seen the need to invest in a weed and water control system, conditions have not been favorable for the proper development of the process. “For this reason, this year it is necessary to save rice, vehemently asking for the storage incentive to guarantee the supply for food security.”
Marches by the rice unions are scheduled for today to demand an early agreement from the Government with the aim of saving this year’s harvest.
The call is made by the National Federation of Rice Producers (Fedearroz), Dignidad Arrocera, Dignidad Agropecuaria, Núcleos Arroceros and Coagrodistritos, organizations that highlight the importance of maintaining order in production, initially storing temporary rice surpluses and other actions both at medium like long term.
They insist that the storage incentive is the solution to the crisis they are facing right now.
“There must be a comprehensive analysis that includes the various factors that have affected the producing sector and that inexorably lead it to have the support of the Government to store temporary rice surpluses and to define actions in which work is carried out jointly. ”, assured Fedearroz in a statement.