Since the Secretary of Finance and Planning (Sefiplan) only approved 12 million of a total of 50 million required to carry out a pineapple cultivation project in the southern zone, producers from approximately 43 cooperatives took over the facilities of the Secretariat of Agricultural, Rural and Fishing Development (SEDARPE) to demand the release of all the resources.
They said that the 50 million pesos project to grow pineapple in communities located on the short route to Merida had been approved for this year, and that the amount released so far does not allow them to meet expectations.
They also said that each technological package had a cost of 240 thousand pesos and that each of the cooperatives was composed of at least 10 producers that would produce pineapples in four hectares. "This 12 million pesos amount is an insult to the pineapple producers, as it would only amount to 60 thousand pesos per producer," stressed one of the protesters.
They also stated that, so far, they have only received 12 million pesos and that they wouldn't accept less than 43 million pesos, that is, one million pesos for each one of the producer cooperatives.
The undersecretary of Agriculture, Antonio Rico Lomeli confirmed that the Ministry of Finance had only authorized the release of 12 million pesos for the production of pineapples for this year.
Source: noticaribe.com.mx