Colombian ranchers once again warned about the harsh crisis that some 300,000 milk-producing families are going through, even more so now that the rains have returned and milk production has increased. They indicated that prices have fallen, as well as consumption, while production costs have risen, a situation that has small producers on the ropes, while no measures are taken to counteract the situation.
The alert is raised by José Félix Félix Lafaurie Rivera, president of the Colombian Federation of Livestock Farmers (Fedegán), for whom the problem faced by these milk producers has been more than diagnosed and what is needed now is to move on to solutions, many of which have been proposed for some time, but have not yet been implemented.
“Proposals on the table are those that Fedegán has put forward to boost milk consumption in the country and improve the situation of hundreds of thousands of families who are dedicated to the production of this protein. However, “they are still there” criticized José Félix Lafaurie Rivera in his most recent opinion column titled “The rains are back… and the spilled milk.”
In his writing, the union spokesperson indicated that they have proposed that public purchases of milk be made, that it be mandatory in the menus of military garrisons and, above all, due to its importance for growth, in the children’s homes of the ICBF and the Program of School Food, PAE.
Likewise, he pointed out that they have proposed an alliance between the State, ranchers and the industry, to produce milk for popular segments, with underconsumption that is part of the malnutrition problems.
“It is pasteurized milk, because the “ultrasasteurization”, the “long life”, the “tetrapack” packaging and the multimillion-dollar advertising of the industry turns milk into a luxury. In developed and dairy-growing countries, such as Holland and Australia, fresh, short-life milk in recyclable plastic drums is more desired. “Besides, why would a low-income housewife want to buy expensive milk for six months,” she said.
José Felix Lafaurie, president of Fedegán.
Photo:Natalia Hoyos
Another of the farmers’ proposals to solve the crisis suffered by nearly 300,000 small milk producers in the country, aims to make alliances to expand spraying capacity and get closer to a purchase guarantee condition, like coffee growers have, so that the small producer does not have to “cry over his spilled milk,” because no one buys it from him or he must give it away informally at prices that do not cover the costs.
“For years we have put proposals for solutions on the table…, and they remain there. We can hold more seminars for an overdiagnosed problem, but it is urgent to move on to solutions,” insisted Lafaurie Rivera, for whom The crisis that producers are going through “is not an imaginary story.” It is the reality of nearly 300,000 Colombians, “since our milk production is, for the most part, from small smallholder farmers who, many of them, are part of rural poverty.”
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