The libertarian government of President Javier Miley considers the countryside the engine of the economy, the basis of Argentina’s resurgence, typical of agro-exports, to such an extent that thanks to the new additional retention fees for the sale of goods in the sector, it expects an additional income from export duties of 654 million dollars, occupying a prominent place in cereals of special global demand, corn, which at some point was attributed to Ecuador as the star product of the 21st century. And it records outstanding areas suitable for profitable cultivation, with farmers who are distinguished by a high business level and skills in appropriate agricultural work, complemented by industrial development that has placed the national poultry industry in a leading position in the supply of animal proteins, in recent years it is projected to export, which is quite it speaks of its competitiveness and international respectability.

In Ecuador, corn of excellent quality, high nutrition and yield with a growing trend is harvested, thanks to the fact that it is able to obtain optimal hybrid seeds from its public experimental station, while the imported ones have adapted without problems to the equatorial environment to the extent that the amounts of foreign currency that were previously used in imports significantly reduced. Nevertheless, a proposal is needed to promote mass planting until self-sufficiency is achieved, since 91,000 metric tons will still need to be imported this year, taking into account that the national harvest is previously satisfied.

MAG approved the import of 91,566 tons of hard yellow corn to cover the deficit during the first months of 2024.

There are still difficulties in the normalization of marketing that has the determination of minimum support prices, which should be the result of an agreement between planters and industrialists, a process that must be updated with international weight measurements, rejecting English units, contrary to the obligations acquired in the supranational norm, for the adoption of which fought the corn unions, led by their central organization, the National Federation of Corn Growers, with a qualified tradition and organizational experience to successfully manage exports supported by the intervention of the Commodity Exchange, but with little state and private banking support.

There is no need to continue useless jokes about the lack of work and the progress of poverty, the solution is in a beautiful rural environment, it would be enough to carry out a massive project of mixed planting of corn with beans or pigeon peas, with stimulating lending, state and private, which includes thousands of hectares that mark the beginning of regenerative agriculture (which uses fewer inputs and water), which would offer decent, well-paid work for many families, not only to cover local needs, but with a strong export credence to meet the deficit demand of Peru and Colombia, both added orders from close to 10 million tons, which leaves room for Ecuador after covering obligations from the free trade agreement with the United States, which lacks Ecuadorian quality product. (OR)