Argentine President Lashes out at Small Scale Farmers

The Argentine Ministry of Agriculture made it harder for small-scale farmers to participate in government policy and decision making processes on Friday by eliminating the only department dedicated to providing Argentine farmers with a platform to make policy proposals.

Members of the National Movement of Indigenous Campesinos (MNCI) criticized the move to eliminate the Secretariat for Family Farm Agriculture, accusing President Mauricio Macri of unfairly implementing measures in favor large scale agricultural companies.

“Until now, the only measures implemented under the Macri Administration (in relation to agriculture) have targeted certain sectors of the farming industry. The small producers haven't appeared anywhere in the new policies.” MNCI representative Diego Monton told Argentine newspaper Pagina/12.

According to the ministry of agriculture, there are 120,000 family farms in this country of 43 million people, and the sector is “the main supplier of food for the Argentine population, providing approximately 70 percent of the daily diet.”

Monton criticized the decision suggesting that the move demonstrates that, “the Marci administration doesn’t care about the internal market.”

However, the decision takes place just two weeks after Macri announced the elimination of controls on price labeling that will likely see private companies raising food prices.

Agriculture is one of the pillars of the economy of this South American nation, accounting for 13 percent of GDP, and 35.6 percent of direct and indirect employment.