Senate to evaluate effects of wheat crisis this afternoon

SANTIAGO.- At the request of representatives from the various parliamentary committees, the Senate will hold a special session at the Sala at noon today to analyze the complex situation currently affecting wheat producers and processors in central and southern Chile.

The crisis began with producers in the central zone claiming that the prices for their wheat have been undervalued in comparison to the international price of the commodity.

The situation affects some 3 thousand rural families that have had to sell their products at $1,000 pesos per 100Kg less than the price for imported wheat, which is currently at $16 thousand pesos per 100Kg.

As a result, representatives for the farmers have asked the Executive Branch to open a purchasing agency through the state company Comercializadora de Trigo S.A. (Cotrisa).

Nevertheless, the government has indicated that it does not have the resources to heed the request.  Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture has offered a series of measures to help farmers, which have been referred to as merely “a bandage” for the problem.