2024-04-03 18:35:07
The director of the Yerba Mate Institute, Jonas Petersonstated that “they are bringing weed from other countries to extort producers” and, in this way, “lower local prices.”
Likewise, he showed great concern about not being able to “set a minimum price” and, therefore, “guarantee” the beginning of the harvest.
In statements to Radio Metro of Buenos Aires, Peterson recalled that, until the ’90s, the Yerba Mate Regulatory Commission (CRYM) “guaranteed a good price for the productive sector.” However, when the herbal sector was eliminated, it fell “into a terrible economic crisis.”
“The industrial sector told us ‘there is a lot of production, if you want, bring it or not bring it’. We reached prices that were worth less than a piece of candy and they paid us with checks with a term of 120, 180 and even 360 days. We producers can’t take it anymore and we take all our tractors out to the streets,” declared Peterson.
After many fights, in 2002 the National Yerba Mate Institute was created, which today stopped setting prices, an issue that worries the sector. “Above all, the small producer, who should already have that value defined to be able to start his harvest and know if he will be able to get through the year well,” he said.
The director of the National Yerba Mate Institute declared that Misiones “It is populated by producers”, but what “mobilizes the economy of the towns” is the production of weed.
“If we do not have the protection of an institute or the Government that says ‘I endorse this value for the producer’ the industry is going to say ‘I can pay you this.’ If I hold out until they pay a better price, how long can I last? “I am a small producer who has been carrying debts throughout the year to maintain the herb, and I have no financial back to support myself,” he stressed.
According to Peterson, the industry has a stock of weed that ranges “between a year and three months.” For this reason, he has “time to wait” for the producers to send him the harvest, reported the Noticias Argentinas agency.
“Large industries have large plantations that they can use to extort the producer. Besides, The National government authorized the importation of yerba mate; “They are bringing raw materials in bulk from other countries to extort producers and drive down the prices of local yerba mate,” he concluded.