The cost of producing and the lack of financing, paints a complex panorama for the fruit sector, which has been facing a crisis for several years. The president of the Chamber of Producers of Fernandez Oro, Carlos Zanardi, said that it would be very difficult for small and medium producer to prune this year's production of pears and apples.
The permanent crisis of the regional economy has deepened because of a lack of governmental financing this year and because producers must pay credits, many of which are tied to the value of the dollar, which significantly increased last year. In this scenario, many producers of the Alto Valle de Rio Negro won't be able to carry out the harvest.
During the past season, the producers could conduct the cultural tasks of the farms (due to the low prices obtained from the exporters) with the assistance of Fondagro credits; without these funds they couldn't have carried out the harvest. The government made available 350 million pesos that were used by more than 1,500 producers of Rio Negro to harvest their fruit and pay for health costs. However, this year there are no credit lines for producers and they must make a very strong investment to face these expenses. At the current value of the dollar, producers will need 22 thousand pesos per hectare for the harvest alone.
Zanardi said that the situation of the small and medium-sized producers of the Alto Valle was critical, as apart from having a debt with Fondargo they also have to start paying other credits from August. "We sold all the harvest to the exporters at 20 pesos to the dollar and now it is at 28. A lot of the financing is dollarized, especially the agrochemicals, and so the debts are skyrocketing, it's a very complex situation," said the producer.
Last year was very hard for the sector because costs substantially increased and prices were low. It was similar to the crisis of 2015. However, in 2017, the national government granted soft credits that were taken massively by the producers. Some 1,300 producers took the pruning loan for about 250 million pesos, while nearly 700 producers took the health financing line for about 90 million pesos. These credits were given by Fondagro, only for the producers of Rio Negro.
The credit didn't cover all expenses, but it helped many producers to complete the production cycle. Last year the value per hectare was 18 thousand pesos and the financing lines were 15 thousand per hectare. However, this is not the only credit that the regional farmer has to face. They must also pay their debts due to purchases of agrochemicals. According to Zanardi, a producer of 10 hectares now owes 10 to 12 thousand dollars because when they took a loan to purchase agrochemicals the value of the American currency was 17 pesos.
In this context, producers do not rule out taking force measures in the short term to make visible the economic difficulties they have to produce. The producers also have also had a debt with Río Negro Fiduciaria since 2014, which was extended, but that they will have to start canceling next month, which complicates their scenario more.
Source: rionegro.com.ar