According to Javier Lojo, a specialist in fruit and journalist at the Rio Negro Journal, the government "can not give producers subsidies as they didn't have the resources, but that they were willing to give them credits. Unfortunately, many producers are out of the system; a problem they are trying to solve."
"Producers requested nearly $1.2 billion to turn the harvest's situation around. The government's commitment was to try to get between 600 and 800 M$ to finance the picking of fruit. According to Lojo, it would be healthier to immediately achieve a credit through international guarantees using the future sale of the fruit as collateral.
Harvesting the crop, he said, costs between 0.90 and $1 per kilo. Thus, it would cost $400,000/ ha to avoid leaving the fruit on the ground (like last year) because a farm can yield up to 40,000 kilos per hectare, he said.
"This harvest's volume will be similar to the previous cycle. According to estimates, there will be 2.2 million tons of pears and apples. The fruit that is currently facing the biggest risk is the Williams pear, which is the main source of income in the short term. It is exported to Europe and has a very positive reception. The harvest begins next week, and the financing for the collection hasn't been defined yet," said the specialist.
Lojo stated in the program aired on Radio Colonia on Saturdays that "these amounts are too big for the provincial government. In dollars, we are talking about $60 million in the next 30 days."
Lojo also said that "40% of the fruit crop is at risk, because that's the amount of producers that are not integrated into an export system. In this case, the companies that have a long relationship with producers are going to help them with some funding, but there are others that will be left out. The fruit needs to be harvested, despite it being for the internal or external market. There are 100,000 tons of Williams pear that might be at risk. Meanwhile, regarding apples, as there is a delay, the advance payment of the sales might be used for financing the apple harvest. This crop will yield 1.4 million tons, 1.2 million of which are for fresh consumption."
Source: infocampo.com.ar