Argentina's four biggest agricultural federations said in a statement Saturday that they were resuming the strike they launched March 12.
The federations said their members would "continue with the protest measures" because of "the lack of response to demands" made to the government to scrap the increase in export duties on grains.
"The presidents of the organizations will meet and evaluate the results of these (measures) next Wednesday," the agricultural federations said, without commenting on the results of the dialogue started Friday with the government.
After more than six hours of talks between federation representatives and government officials that ended early Saturday without results, the two sides agreed to meet again on Monday.
Federation representatives said before issuing the joint statement that farmers retained their "willingness for dialogue with the government," but they reiterated their demand for a suspension of the higher duties.
The four federations organized a rural lockout and massive road-blocking protests in response to a government package of export restrictions and taxes aimed at holding down domestic food prices.
Last Thursday, President Cristina Fernandez offered to negotiate with the farm groups if they suspended the strike.
In fact, Fernandez had said previously that she would be open to talks, but only if the lockout and roadblocks ended.
The combination of the strike and roadblocks had begun to cause food shortages last week in some major cities.
Fernandez, who took office in December, succeeding husband Nestor Kirchner, also called on Argentines to "respect the ideas and proposals" that voters endorse when they cast their ballots.
Together, the four rural organizations challenging the government encompass some 290,000 producers. While the groups have made sure to include family farmers in their public events, they mainly represent the interests of large-scale, export-oriented agriculture, which has enjoyed a boom during the last five years.
In a tough speech made Tuesday night after the farm groups vowed to maintain the strike indefinitely, Fernandez stressed that government policies played a big role in the agricultural sector's recent bonanza.
"It was precisely from the beginning of the government that began in 2003 (headed by Kirchner) where the sector really began to be competitive, not only from the rise in commodities. The international prices also went up for the Brazilians and - without export limits - they have less profitability than the Argentine agricultural sector," she said.
"Why? Very simple, because of a competitive exchange rate, which the Argentine state maintains," thanks to a primary budget surplus, Fernandez said.
She also pointed out that the farm sector had benefited from taxpayer-funded subsidies aimed at keeping fuel prices below international levels. EFE
hd/hv
More News:
Market Updates |
Stock Alerts |
All Trading News |
Stock Index
|
|
