Paraguay closes the year with a marked agricultural recovery

By Noelia Ferreira

The agricultural and livestock sectors of Paraguay continued to work in 2022 through the efforts of the public and private sectors, which made it possible, despite the drought that occurred at the beginning of the year, to have a marked agricultural recovery at the country level.

“Fortunately, the measures were taken on time, then we had a very good harvest between harvests and harvests of what was corn and soybeans, we also closed a very good year with potato and onion producers, with good prices and production”, highlighted this Tuesday the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Santiago Bertoni.

Regarding livestock, he said that the country is currently closing the year with “very important” figures and that this year in terms of exports of animal origin, it would exceed US$2 billion.

GOOD HARVESTS

Regarding the current harvests, he stated that there are good rains that mean that the main crops, including soybeans, are on the right track, predicting a “good harvest” that will help farmers “balance their finances.”

Regarding the financial system, he said that it served as support for the national agricultural sector to continue working and that today favorable results can be seen, support that was given through alliances with the public and private sectors.

“Today we have this as a result, a harvest of more than 6,500,000 tonnes of corn and soybeans that is developing very well and we hope it will continue like this. We are very excited because we are going to have a very good result in this harvest,” he said in an interview with Radio Nacional del Paraguay.

He said that 2023, according to the estimates of the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP), will be the year of recovery and economic expansion.

“The main driver of our economy is agriculture, it is our main employer, it is a sector that generates a lot of labor, so if this sector does well, the country does well and that has already been demonstrated over the course of the years,” he said.

He maintained that they hope that the “Central Bank’s predictions come true and that we can have a better 2023 and get away from this ghost of the pandemic,” he added.

EXPORT OF BEEF TO THE UNITED STATES

“We always have a number of markets that we have ambitions to break into. The United States has already responded to us that we have formally passed all the tests and there would only be one more bureaucratic step left and with that the whole process is consolidated,” he assured.

He also recalled that the Government of Taiwan made official the entry of Paraguayan pork into his country, this being an “extremely important fact for the pork industry to continue growing and transforming what our grains are into high-quality proteins and animal protein, thus giving it added value and we achieved that with the friendly government of Taiwan”, he highlighted.

In this sense, he said that the export of meat to Taiwan will double through this new negotiation. “We hope that next year will be a good year for the livestock sector and that these efforts are reflected in good prices for producers so that they too can continue investing and creating sources of employment in the rural sector,” he said.

ONGOING AUDITS

Along these lines, he recalled that audits for meat exports are also in force in the country with the governments of Canada, Japan and Korea, which are very demanding markets but pay very well. “Our industries and our products are in a position to compete anywhere, so this process is beginning,” he stressed.

Regarding the markets, he highlighted that Chile continues to be the main market followed by Russia, Brazil, Taiwan, Israel and Uruguay.

With information from Agencia IP