The third edition of TodoLáctea began, on the premises of the Rural Society of San Francisco, with a large presence of officials, among whom the heads of the productive ministries of Santa Fe and Córdoba, Gustavo Puccini and Sergio Busso, stood out. With the common denominator of the defense of production, both condemned the extractivism of export rights (misnamed withholdings) and highlighted the importance of strengthening federalism for the benefit of the region.
Accompanied by the Secretary of Agriculture, Ignacio Mántaras, and the Director of Dairy, Carlos De Lorenzi, the Minister of Productive Development from Santa Fe celebrated that together with his counterpart from Cordoba they contributed to the rollback of the export tax, provided for in the first version of the Bases Law . “We have achieved it,” Puccini said, as has the extension of “zero withholdings” for the dairy. “It was a great path and it must be consolidated and generated a clear rule for the future, which gives us certainty.”
In the same sense, the man from Santa Fe endorsed what he heard many of those present say: that the Central Region “is the productive heart of the Argentine Republic.” And that is why he demanded “to look more at the interior, because it has this production that is going to move the country forward.”
Along the same lines, he highlighted that Santa Fe provides ports to enhance regional production. “We are working a lot on that, on logistics to improve our competitiveness,” he said, and highlighted the importance of the capital terminal. “A more productive port that we want to promote,” he announced.
Regarding dairy farming in particular, Puccini considered that it will be one of the sectors that will contribute to the healing of the national economy. “In a situation that we know is difficult, but we will get ahead.” And, about TodoLáctea, he added: “I hope that this fair shows the country that the Central Region is going to be a locomotive that sets the course for the Argentine Republic to move forward.”
More federalism
For his part, Sergio Busso also outlined a twinning with Santa Fe. “We are practically the same,” he said, due to a historical issue “with deep roots” with great coincidences, especially cultural.
Just like his counterpart from Santa Fe, the man from Cordoba was “optimistic” about the national situation. But he clarified: “without a macro that orders, it is very difficult to think of a productive model.” He based the support of the Central Region to the national government on this argument: “because a government that the people elect has legitimacy and what we have to do is give it the tools to try to ensure that it can fulfill its mission.”
In any case, he clarified that these tools have to favor production and work. “We fought in self-defense and not against someone,” he said in reference to the questioning of the withholdings. “It hurts us that it is not understood that production must be encouraged and stimulated, not penalized or punished.”
Along these lines, he considered them “this damn tax” that is an exaction on the provinces. And regarding the 15% brake for all exportable goods that was contemplated in the first version of the Base Law, he reflected: “luckily we were able to make it understood that it was not viable, especially in regional economies and more so in the dairy industry.” It remains pending, he said, for it to be declared a regional economy.
Busso also reissued the criticism of “centralism,” which was the presidential campaign motto of former Cordoba governor Juan Schiaretti. “This (opposition to withholdings) is not against anyone; We said it 20 years ago and it is not against a government, but against a centralist, unitary public policy, which leaves aside the productive interest of our country.”
To teach about the drain on resources that this (non-shareable) tax implies for the provinces, Busso compared the contribution per hectare that a farmer makes to each jurisdiction. “When one analyzes what a producer contributes through rural real estate tax, both in Santa Fe and Córdoba, this year they will pay an average of 30/35 kilos of soybeans per hectare, while for withholdings they will pay 1500/1600 kilos per hectare. ”. To make it better understood, he translated it into pesos: $12/14,000 pesos per hectare will go to the province and about $350,000 will go to the National State. In other words, “a producer of 100 hectares in this area is going to pay the Nation 40 million per year.” And he closed: “if that money was in the pocket of the producer we would not have to be begging” for resources before the Nation. “We have to fight that, we have to try to make a totally federal country and those resources have to return,” he concluded.
