MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mrs. Kirchner and farmers clash over soaring meat prices

Farmers retain cattle in the fields because it has rained and put on weight, said the Argentine president

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner admitted that “meat prices have risen dramatically” (30 to 40%) but immediately blamed the “farming sector” and its obsession “to be more profitable” as the main reason behind the price escalade.

But farmers replied saying her remarks were “offensive” for the camp and blamed the government and its “anti-productive policies” for the current situation.

Mrs. Kirchner made the statement during a political rally in a district of the province of Buenos Aires where she emphasized “the need of defending the production model and the boosting consumption” which the Argentine government has been promoting since 2003, when her husband, Nestor Kirchner took office.

“Most of the Argentine population is paying for the Kirchners mistakes” said Eduardo Buzzi head of the Argentine Agricultural Federation and one of the most combative farm leaders.

“Many producers have lost their livestock and have had to give away their cows due to droughts and because someone from the government decided what the highest prices would be and forced them to sell their cattle” blasted Buzzi.

Meat prices increase has been a pressing issue for every Argentine, the world’s top beef eaters. Mrs. Kirchner said that “meat prices have increased significantly, just as the price the producers are charging inside their fields.“

She went deeper on the issue and expressed that the increase was ”due to heavy rainstorms, and to the fact that the cattle remains inside the fields so that it gains weight,“ and the producers attempt to make more money on this fact.

The President summed up: ”It's an economic law: he who produces more earns more money. None remains neutral in the economy“.

”Her comments are outrageous“ insisted Buzzi. ”The President is offending producers. They are getting a better value because meat is now a scarce commodity because the Kirchnerite sector decimated livestock, repressed and did not encourage production, and now we are witnessing its consequences“.

”Néstor Kirchner is responsible of endless mistakes in economic and productive matters. If you act in an anti-productive way and know nothing about camp matters, then all Argentines pay for that”, he added.

Another farm leader, Carlos Garetto president of the Coninagro Farming Cooperatives claimed “the government was trying to blame someone, and attacked the weakest link, in this case, farming producers. It is the government and only the government with its erred policies that is responsible for the meat price rises”.

Mrs. Kirchner discarded alternative measures in order to face an upcoming inflationary spiral. The Argentine government has already acknowledged several ups among prices -dairy have suffered a 30% increase- during the past days.

Santa Fe province senator Carlos Reutemann also joined the controversy saying that government ”policies implemented on the production sector (agricultural, livestock and dairy) have been disastrous“ and added that the situation in the farming sector ”has gotten worse.“

”The national government should be making decisions regarding this situation, but they aren't doing anything,“ he explained. ”Decisions inside the country are taken in the Executive branch. Those are executive decisions and are not really related to us lawmakers. The national government should have a strategy, a goal“ he added.

”Nowadays the whole world is horrified by the price of meat, but many people have been warning of a meat crisis due to droughts and calves slaughtering. Well, this is it. If there's no strategy ahead of us, this is an impossible situation,” he concluded.