Argentina revamps ministry to defuse crisis over farmers' protests

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Argentina revamped the government's agriculture administration in a bid to calm farmers who are angry over the farm taxation policies of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The new Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will take over from an Agriculture Secretariat that so far has worked within the Ministry of Production.

Argentine Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez announced in a televised news conference the new ministry will be headed by Julian Dominguez, 46, vice president of the lower house in the Buenos Aires provincial legislature since 2007.

Argentina last had a Ministry of Agriculture in 1981, when it was dissolved by the military dictatorship at the time.

The policy shift by Fernandez followed a summer of discontent and protests by farmers over the government's agriculture policy and what critics called a relentless taxation regime.

Farmers' leaders are angry that the government policies have added to the hardship of agricultural communities under a growing burden of taxation, low produce and poor demand abroad.

Farmers' protests during the summer election cost the government Congress seats and slashed the popularity of the president and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, in Argentine opinion polls.

The new ministry was given a cautious welcome by Carbap, one of the medium-sized farmers' cooperative organizations, MercoPress reported. "The creation of the ministry has been something we have demanded for some time," said Carbap Chairman Pedro Apaolaza. But, he said, he would wait to see how the new ministry will operate and the policies it will adopt.

It was not immediately clear if the arrival of the new Ministry on the political scene would defuse tension in the farming community. A Liaison Board representing Argentina's four largest farm lobbies has called meetings this week to consider new protest measures as part of its effort to lobby for changes in the government's agriculture and taxation policies.

Farmers are seeking reductions in export duties and more aid to farmers hit by extended droughts and falling commodity prices. Poor productivity has raised the specter of Argentina being forced to import food, including beef.

The Liaison Board leaders also greeted the announcement of the new ministry with caution, making their welcome conditional on results. The new ministry will only be useful if it helps to solve farmers' problems, but "so far it's only a change of names and posts," said Eduardo Buzzi, one of the Liaison Board members quoted by MercoPress.

What matters are policies and the instruments to make them feasible, which is far more important than names, Buzzi said, pointing out that the responsibility for dialogue and confidence-building rests with the government.

Nestor Roulet, from the CRA farmers' organization, said he would like to see agricultural policy-making that went beyond decisions taken by Fernandez and her husband Nestor Kirchner, who is known to influence government decision-making from his ruling party stronghold.

The economic crisis has dismayed the Catholic Church and emboldened its leaders to direct sharp criticism at Fernandez. Primate Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio told a gathering in Buenos Aires, "The government has the power to amend the damages, but it opts to worsen inequalities."

He warned that human rights are abused not only by terrorism, repression and murder, "but also with the existence of conditions of extreme poverty generated by large inequalities."