Lack of invitation to advisory council generates discomfort among corn growers – La Nación 2023

2023-05-30 16:32:23

After several weeks of the request made by the corn sector to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) to establish the referential price of the grain, the entity has scheduled an advisory council for this May 30.

However, Henry Peña, president of the Corporación de Maiceros Ecuador Productivo, said in an interview with THE PRODUCER that he believes that, although a price can be set for corn, it is important that it be accompanied by an authority that ensures that it is respected. , “but what happens is that there is no decision, the industry is a very strong group, and the authority right now and the way the country is, will not pay attention to them,” he added.

For the leader, it is too late to hold a consultative council, “things are already done, imagine a consultative council right now when 60% of the harvest is out.” Despite this, he stressed that his participation in this advisory council will be to call on the industry, but above all on the authorities to carry out actions that help to comply with the established price.

For his part, Francisco Paz, who is a corn producer in the Los Angeles area, indicated that, despite the fact that they have asked the MAG to have two representatives per province at the meeting, there has been no response from the institution, “They didn’t even ask us, they simply convened an advisory council without having invited us, nor having taken us into account,” he said.

Adriano Ubilla, a corn producer in the northern part of the Los Ríos province, agrees with Paz, since according to what he mentioned, during this time they have been working together with the MAG, for this reason they hoped to be taken into account for the advisory council, despite this the invitation was never given.

“In this work, what we did was, together with them, review all the production costs that they incur to do the corn activity, and that in the end they give us a minimum support price, that covers the costs and that generates a profit. ”, he narrowed.

Ubilla concluded by mentioning that, from his perspective tomorrow, an agreement will not be reached either, since the industry is proposing the price of $15.60 and the producers $22 per quintal, “then the minister would have to decide, and it will be up to him , but how he is going to do it, that is the other topic. I don’t really have high expectations or hopes that it’s fair, but that’s the reality.”