The ultrakirchenirst Pablo Zurromayor of the city of Buenos Aires Pehuajo, He promotes in his party a new tax and a greater limitation of action on plant protection applicators. The draft ordinance, which should have arrived this week in the City Council and whose vote was postponed due to the controversy it caused, proposes to charge two liters of premium diesel per hectare and by machines that carry out phytosanitary spraying activities in the district. It also extends the operation exclusion zone to 500 meters from the last home plus 300 meters of buffer.
“The ordinance of the Union for the Fatherland is confiscatory and ridiculous. It wants to prevent the application of phytosanitary products in the fields 500 meters from the urban ejido and asks for 300 meters more of buffer area to be dealt with only green belt products. If we cannot take care of the crops, they abandon the planting area, because it is essential to keep the plots clean and healthy. The paradox is this household products have the same “danger” of plant protection products,” he explained Joseph Perkins, farmer from Pehuajó. “We are specialists, we have been working on this for many years, and agricultural producers do not get sicker than the rest of society, there are no indices to prove it, there is no documentation, there is no scientific support, no one can certify a sick person for a certain reason of the substance we handle,” he said.
With the new regulations, Perkins said, “a very large acreage is left out of production.” For example, “if you have a house 600 meters from the last house, you already have 600 meters without being able to apply, since both houses are counted,” she explained.
In addition to the two liters of premium diesel per hectare sprayed, the ordinance requires that a GPS be placed on all machines who apply plant protection products in the district to be monitored by the municipality in which they work. “It’s crazy. A car runs five or six gallons’ worth of premium diesel and they add two gallons. And they don’t know the compensation,” Perkins said.
José Perkins, agricultural producer from Pehuajó. Courtesy of JP.“This thing will end up in court because they have no justifiable benefit. When they met with the applicators they were told that the fee was for operational control costs. But it’s a lot of money, more or less 1,900,000 dollars that would be raised with this project“said the producer.
On the other hand, regarding the road tollPerkins highlighted that of the total raised for this concept75% of it is available for free. “We have a very expensive tariff, only 25 percent is allocated to the maintenance of the road network, on paper, and the roads are a disaster. A car comes by to fix the tracks once or twice a year, but not and we have done construction work, sewerage and there are a lot of resources to do it,” he indicated.
The payment of this tariff is progressive based on the size of the plant and is adjusted to the value of the diesel. “A field of 1,500 hectares In December he paid the sixth installment 960,000 pesos. And now they are changing the nomenclature from common diesel to premium diesel, that is, that field will pay a little 13 million pesos“Perkins estimate.
And what’s more, the dry
In a scenario of heat wave and lack of rain which in recent days has damaged summer crops such as corn and soybeanswho are going through theirs crucial phases for defining returns, the producers of Pehuajó are joined by a new concern about the measures that Zurro is trying to impose. Plants are already showing symptoms of water stress and, in many cases, yield losses will be irreversible.
After enduring the worst drought in decades, farmers were hoping for a good harvest this year to end the bad streak, but those hopes are starting to fade. The fact is that in the countryside, large investments and months’ work can be lost in a few days if the weather and/or economic policy measures determine it, causing the taba to tip over.
“It dried outdrought hit and the province increased taxes by 300 percent AND the municipality by 200%.“, expressed Perkins with a hint of anger dampened by the fatigue of repeated injustices as he observed his batch of corn scorched by the drought. “The weather is playing tricks on us this year and these are the risks you run when you sow in the sky open . But beyond that, the City wants to add a phytosanitary ordinance where they exclude for 500 meters, plus 300 meters of buffer, many lots here, this is one, and apply an extra rate of two liters of diesel per hectare,” he explains…
“These people don’t know what the industry is about, they don’t know that a car bills the value of five liters of diesel and they add two more. They will leave more lots out of the exclusion. They always cut the same leather“he has declared.
“We we produce food, we produce wealth, we produce money, things we need for this country to move forward. Taking all these batches out of production also means fewer truck trips, fewer parts sales, fewer fuel sales, fewer sneaker sales or haircuts. Because our city’s economy is in the middle of the wet pampas, and because it’s a fertile pampas, the wealth comes from the countryside,” Perkins explained.
The producers have formed a working group with technicians and applicators who will try to explain the situation to the councilors so that they do not approve these measures which are harmful to the sector and the local economy. “If we can’t stop the ordinance, We are preparing to take legal action. And if the legal issues don’t work, We will be careful to carry out mobilizations“, he said.
“We are farmers, we produce food, it’s not right what they are doing and they hurt everyone, the entire community“, he has declared.
Fortunately, this Monday showed the imminent arrival of some rain on the horizon and producers renewed their optimism, praying that it will arrive in the quantity needed to save their crops, as they continue to organize themselves to resist the fiscal onslaught of the municipal government.
Source: Clarin
