(13 Mar 2020) Agricultural producers continue a farm marketing stoppage in Argentina to protest the government's increase in the tax on the export of soybeans, the country's main crop.
More than 100 producers gathered in the vicinity of Expoagro, the largest agro-industrial exhibition in the country, held in the town of San Nicolas, 240 kilometers from Buenos Aires.
There, surrounded by tractors and Argentine flags, they expressed their discomfort at the recent decision by President Alberto Fernández to increase the aliquot for the foreign sale of soybeans by 3%.
The memory of the 2008 three-week strike over export taxes against the government of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015), the current vice president, for having arranged a mobile soybean tax scheme hovered over the assembly.
The producers made fiery speeches against the political leadership and the vice president.
"How many crops have they stolen from us since 2002?" said farmer Sergio Fortuna. "The state has stolen five-and-a-half harvests from us."
Farmer Alberto Perfumo said the taxes should apply to profits and not to the product.
" If I produce little, it doesn't matter. If I lose money, it doesn't matter. I have to pay the same," he complained.
A day earlier small farmers aligned with the government gave out free vegetables in front of the presidential palace as protest against the striking farmers.
People lined up to get part of the about 20 tons of free vegetables.
Juan Delavilla, secretary of the Secretary of Unión de Trabajadores de la Tierra (Workers of the Earth Union) said the countryside needs to share their profits.
"They have to pay to redistribute the income and richness to the least favorite sectors of Argentina," Delavilla said.
For economist Enrique Dentice, the problem is that the Fernández administration is adjusting the economy to please bond-holders.
"I think we have to see that the countryside is the one that provides us with the only thing that we cannot produce that are foreign currencies," he said.
The farming sector is a major source of foreign currency for Argentina and Fernández needs it to avert a debt default and a further deepening of a currency crisis.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
