Midagri would have 1 million registered to receive urea only in December | ECONOMY

More than two months have passed since the Government issued DU 013 authorizing it to purchase urea to guarantee the start of the 2022-2023 agricultural campaign starting this month, but so far neither this process nor it is known how many farmers it will reach.

That decree authorized Midagri to make such an acquisition until August 15, for S / 348 million, but this Sunday the Executive issued another rule, DU 019-2022, which extends that purchasing power until October 31. In addition, it extends until December 15 the deadline to register the producers who will receive this input in a register.

In this regard, in dialogue with Radio Nacional, the head of Midagri, Andrés Alencastre, explained that the extension of this last term to December has been given so that his sector can reach a million beneficiary producers this year.

It is worth remembering that, until recently, the Government planned to arrive next September to register a million beneficiaries, while Minister Alencastre insisted that the fertilization process for that campaign still begins in that month.

However, on this occasion he mentioned that, so far (only) he has 430,000 registered in the aforementioned register, and acknowledged that there are more than a million farmers who need this fertilizer, and for which in 2023 it will continue ( registering) to others who require it.

In addition, although in his speech for national holidays, President Castillo indicated that the urea purchase process would have concluded before July 31, Minister Alencastre said that negotiations with qualified suppliers would still be completed between this Monday and Tuesday, and that the distribution of the input -he insisted- will begin in the second half of August and will continue in September.

However, Climaco Cárdenas, president of Conveagro, in dialogue with Management, warned that the process of fertilizing the fields, in the case of rice, should start in July, and since they started planting without having that input, they foresee a reduction in productivity and crop yield by 30%, and increase in its price by 40%.

IN SHORT

Urea plant. Minister Alencastre pointed out that in this semester they will define the alternatives so that the country can have its own fertilizer plants, although he ruled out any expropriation of Bayovar’s phosphates.

An alternative, he indicated, is the empowerment of the private industry of fertilizers and organic fertilizers.

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