At the end of the first week of cessation of harvest, the herb producers of San Pedro, in Misiones, rThey hauled a tractor this Friday demand a 100% recomposition of the value of the green leaf they deliver to the industries. About a hundred tractors gathered very early on National Route 14 and then marched along the main avenues in a noisy caravan.
Farmers support him The 240 pesos that the dryers pay does not cover their number after the sharp increase in fuel prices and the inflationary leap that generated the devaluation last December.
The herbalists have been mobilized for more than ten days. The demands began in small assemblies in the San Pedro area, and quickly grew from WhatsApp groups to become massive.
With the slogan “don’t give up your efforts, join the fight for what is yours”, the herb producers mobilized their tractors very early. The first were stationed at dawn on the side of National Road 14, at the entrance to San Pedro, and others joined as the hours passed until they reached more than 100 cars, some more than half a century old.
The herbalists made it clear that they would not interrupt the path nor want to cause complications for the rest of society. For this reason, in mid-morning they started the tractors and about thirty trucks which marched through the main avenues of San Pedro carrying the Argentine and provincial flags.
Some banners asked “Right price, 505 pesos” or “60 cents for the green leaf now.” One of the demonstrators claimed that with the protest on the roadside they were trying to put pressure on the millers to transfer part of the value that the yerba mate package has on the shelves to the primary sector.
Ariel Steffen, one of the leaders of the herbalists, said that “we are organizing a peaceful demonstration, without roadblocks, a ‘walk’ with tractors; asking for a fair price other than 505 pesos, cash price for our yerba. This is what we demand as producers and we will not give up. “We will continue the fight”
Steffen ruled out that paying that amount to herbalists for the raw material could increase the price of the package on the shelf even more. The average value of a kilo of weed in supermarkets does not fall below 3,000 pesos.
The yerbatero sector comes from a 2023 which closed with record sales on the domestic market and exports which remained. In total, 325 million kilograms were sold, with an increase on an annual basis of 4.38%; But producers suffered from unforeseen weather conditions and ended the 2023 harvest with 55 million kilos less, which equates to a drop in raw material production of 6.75%.
The yerba mate sector is going through difficult times after the national government stripped the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM) of the power to set reference values for the green leaf and yerba mate. Although this measure is precautionary in nature, some argue that the presidential decree remains in force. Furthermore, the Nation must appoint the new president of the organization, without a leader since the beginning of December, when Juan José Szychowski resigned to take up the post of provincial deputy.
Source: Clarin
