Buenos Aires – More than 100,000 agricultural producers grouped under the Argentine Rural Confederations, or CRA, on the weekend began a planned four-day strike to protest government policies in the sector.
The strike, launched on Saturday and the first to be staged during the administration of President Nestor Kirchner, includes “not sending cattle or cereals to market, as well as abstaining from acquiring basic items for their production,” said CRA officials.
The protest will be accompanied by a series of marches and demonstrations in cities in the country’s main agricultural regions.
The CRA is demanding the complete lifting of the ban on exporting beef imposed by the government in March with the aim of lowering local market prices, which had risen 168 percent over the past four years.
The strike has the support of the CARBAP rural associations confederation for Buenos Aires and La Pampa, but not the official backing of the Argentine Agrarian Federation or the Argentine Rural Society, or SRA.
However, CRA president Mario Llambias said Saturday that “the (support) shows the success that this measure … is having,” adding that the strike also had received the support of the SRA leaders, who on Thursday inaugurated the country’s largest annual agriculture and livestock exhibition and fair.
For its part, the government says it does not want to “enter into the controversy … (since it is) very close to the announcement of the livestock plan.”
“What is truly important is for Argentines to be able to keep having meat (available) at reasonable prices and if the possibility exists to have a comfortable level of production and also be able to export, that is welcome,” said Argentine Cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez on the radio on Saturday.
In any event, some say that “the official pressure” exercised on Friday on meat processing plants and supermarkets resulted in the fact that 10,000 head of cattle remained unsold in the Hacienda de Liniers market, ensuring that there is no shortage of supply on Monday.
Llambias said the government action to reduce the impact of the strike by the CRA – which represents more than 300 rural organizations – was “shameful.”
Over the past few weeks, the government eased some of the restrictions it had imposed on beef exports.
The 180-day ban imposed in March had been implemented because of the rise in meat prices over the past few years, an increase brought on by strong growth in domestic and international demand and stagnation in production.
The government is pushing its livestock plan to increase the supply of beef to 1.4 million head per year in Argentina.
There are between 50 and 55 million head of cattle in Argentina and last year the country – which is the world’s third-largest beef exporter – sold abroad meat and meat products valued at $1.39 billion.
