At the beginning of January, the National Representative for the Province of La Pampa Martín Ardohain presented a bill to eliminate the health barrier, which It aroused criticism from the Patagonian livestock entities that came together to reject the idea., among them Río Negro. This Wednesday, Governor Alberto Weretilneck received the Federation of Rural Entities to reinforce the rejection.
Together with all the provincial rural societies, accompanied by the Minister of Economic and Productive Development, Carlos Banacloyany modification to the health barrier or any intervention that jeopardizes the health status of Patagonia was rejected.
The provincial leader together with the rrural representatives from Bariloche, General Conesa, Choele Choel, Río Colorado, Guardia Miter, Alto Valle, Viedma and San Antonio Oeste; They agreed that the lifting of the barrier would represent a strong setback of many years of work that allowed for an excellent health status in Río Negro.
The possibility of eliminating the health barrier and allowing the entry of bone-in meat and live animals to Patagonia, “directly attacks Patagonian health statuses, which are related to livestock, but also to fruit and horticulture.”
Next week, Weretilneck announced that he will hold meetings with the rest of the Patagonian governors to work on a better instance. The majority objective will be to be able to integrate the rest of the country into our region, with the appropriate health status and with the possibility of increasing markets.
“It is a very important setback”
After the meeting in which the Minister of Production, Carlos Banacloy, participated, he expressed that the possibility of modifying the health barrier “It is a very important setback knowing that we would lose a lot of markets“We would lose the growth of Patagonia’s positioning as a differential market.”
He added that «Patagonia has a differential health status that allowed the growth and development of a large part of our production processes.
Banacloy pointed out that the proposal must be taken to the National government “to understand that a health status must be unified but surpassing, not one that means a setback and that is detrimental to all Patagonians.
For its part, the president of the Bariloche Rural Society and vice president of the Río Negro Rural Federation, Leandro Ballerini, He described this possible closure of the barrier as “a setback for many years of work and losses.”
He stated that there is concern “for everything it would generate, for wanting to install this on behalf of other provinces and a refrigeration sector, as a purely and merely commercial issue; and throw away many years of work. And it is not just Patagonia, but it is a problem for the entire country.
