President Gustavo Petro warned during a Council of Ministers meeting of potential food shortages in areas hit by floods from increased rainfall. He stated the situation will be prolonged and could spread to other regions, affecting agricultural production beyond June. He called for emergency decree measures to boost production and regulate costs such as land rentals.
During the ongoing Council of Ministers addressing the national emergency from increased rainfall, President Gustavo Petro described the situation as prolonged, affecting even other regions. He explained that from March to June, the normal rainy season arrives, potentially causing more floods, and after June, summer will leave territories with high water tables, making cultivation difficult and impacting food supply.
Petro warned the Banco de la República against causing food price hikes that would need mitigation, as these could start in crisis-hit regions and spread, increasing hunger there. He reiterated that food prices may rise while demand grows due to the population's need for nutrition.
Facing this risk of shortages, the president stressed that the decrees for the Economic, Social, and Ecological Emergency must include measures to boost agricultural production in these areas. Specifically, he noted that products like rice cannot compete with countries such as the United States due to high production costs driven by expensive land rentals from owners.
He pointed out that in the Costa Caribe, a form of feudalism exists where illegitimate owners of lands taken from wetlands rent them to peasants, forcing them to sell food at higher prices to cover payments. Therefore, he asked Finance Minister Germán Ávila to regulate these rental costs in the decrees and establish 0% interest credit lines, funded by the government using national budget resources.
The president recalled that the Banco de la República's high interest rates harm the economy and proposed using compensation funds to provide 0% loans through entities like Finagro, Banco Agrario, and Bancoldex, targeted at small and medium producers. He also called on producers in non-flooded areas to ramp up output there, insisting that interest rates for these zones must be 0% to offset competitive disadvantages.
