The statement corresponds to the president of the National Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Confenagro), Wilfredo Cabrera, who referred as an example that if before to produce a pound of chicken approximately RD$25 is needed, now almost RD$40 is required.
Cabrera, who chairs the organization that brings together more than 100,000 producers in the national territory, said that many of the production costs are getting out of control.
“To produce the same thing, almost 60% more working capital is needed and many times that capital is not available…”, explained Cabrera.
The representative of the country’s agricultural producers indicated that although external circumstances influence this situation, internally clear policies need to be created to deal with the factors that influence the rise in product prices.
One of those main factors, in his opinion, is intermediation, which he understands must be dealt with definitively. Cabrera indicated that in the local market there is an excess of unnecessary intermediaries that must be eliminated and transport costs reduced.
low growth
Between January and September of last year, the Dominican agricultural sector barely grew 1.6%. The subsectors with the lowest growth were livestock, forestry and fishing, with an expansion of 0.4%, according to the latest available report on the economy from the Central Bank.
The report outlines that this sector has been affected by the rise in the prices of raw materials, which has impacted the international market and has increased production costs, and by high transportation costs, derived from the increase in oil prices.
“Given this fact, the Central Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and its dependencies, implemented measures to counteract the negative effects caused by the crisis, stimulating the dynamism of the sector to guarantee food security for the Dominican population and price stability. of agricultural products”, says the document.
PERSPECTIVE Work.
These measures were valued by the president of Confenagro, Wilfredo Cabrera, who highlighted the work done by the National Price Stabilization Institute (Inespre), which seeks to mitigate the rise in product prices.
Imports.
The Central Bank report highlights that in the aforementioned period (January-September) imports of goods for agriculture and for the food industry increased 38.0% and 32.7%, respectively.