Drought crisis: Gov't vows financial aid to farming producers

The National Government has vowed to provide farming producers with financial aid and an extension of the tax deadline in at least six provinces, as several regions in the country continue to be affected by the extreme drought.

Government officials came to this conclusion after meeting with other members of the Farming Emergency Committee, which also included representatives from the six affected provinces, members of the Liaison Table, economic analysts and National Weather Forecast specialists. 

Once the meeting was over, the head of Coninagro, Juan Carlos Garetto, revealed details of their discussion and said he was satisfied by the results obtained by the Committee, headed by Haroldo Lebed and Agriculture Minister Norberto Yahuar.

“All emergency requests have been approved,” Garetto said. “Regarding financial aid, there’s a commitment to assist producers with Government resources as stated by the law, and some additional help that may come as a one-time-only aid.” 

“The situation calls for more funding for producers,” he said.

The crucial meeting began just after midday on Tuesday, with directors from the four entities that make up the Farming Liason Board in attendance, representatives from the six drought-affected provinces (Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Neuquén, and San Juan) and INTA (National Institute for Agriculturual Technology) technicians.

Before entering the meeting, Garetto, said that to be able to provide adequate aid to the drought-affected areas, the Government would have to come up with the sum of two billion pesos.

The crucial meeting began just after midday with directors from the four entities that make up the Farming Liason Board in attendance, representatives from the six drought-affected provinces (Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Neuquén, and San Juan) and INTA (National Institute for Agriculturual Technology) technicians.

Garetto arrived to the Agriculture Ministry alongside his colleague Rubén Ferrero, head of the Argentine Rural Confederation (CRA) and Hugo Luis Biolcati – the Argentine Rural Society head (SRA). The other top leaders in attendance were the vice-presidents of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, Julio Currás and Guillermo Giannasi.

As well as the head of the Agriculture Ministry and the president of the Commission (Lebed), members of the Economy Ministry, the AFIP tax revenue agency, Banco Nación, the Central Bank and National Weather Forecasting Service were attending the meeting.

“We need an urgent political decision,” Currás assured, further stating “On behalf of the association, we hope that this meeting can resolve the demands of farmers in these heavily-affected areas.”