The National Federation of Coffee Growers also spoke out, warning that 1,200 trailers with coffee have not been able to reach the different ports.
The sugarcane agribusiness union made an “urgent call” so that through dialogue “effective measures be taken that allow the reactivation of activities that generate quality employment and well-being in the southwestern part of the country”, referring to the road blockades that have occurred in the last three weeks in the framework of the national strike. “All the sugar mills” are closed, according to the organization’s statement.
In the document they expressed their “openness and willingness to actively participate in the dialogues that lead us to collectively build an inclusive social agenda in the territory.”
The union highlighted that they currently generate employment for 286,000 people in the geographic valley of the Cauca River. “Six out of 10 families depend on our agribusiness. Among the sugar and paneleros we employ 2.5 million people throughout the country, who have better education, health, wages and quality of life, ”says the union.
It also affirms that “the roadblocks today have the entire southwest completely disconnected with the rest of the country and international trade, generating more poverty, unemployment, shortages of food, medicine, goods and services that do nothing other than aggravate the current panorama and exacerbate, even more profoundly, the effects of the pandemic ”.
Call of the coffee growers
Another union that in the last hours called for an end to blockades and violent acts is the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), after a session of the FNC Steering Committee.
The organization made specific reference to the “looting of warehouses in the port of Buenaventura, the most important in the country”, where 70% of the coffee is exported, in addition to the blockades that have impacted the transport of inputs to the farms and the coffee towards the ports.
“As of today, at least 1,200 trailers with coffee have not been able to reach the different ports of Colombia, thus preventing the export of more than half a million bags of the grain,” said the Federation, which calls for “immediate peaceful solutions.”
“Added to all of the above is the delay in vaccination against covid-19, which further deepens the complex economic, social and health situation facing Colombia,” the document adds. “Coffee growers have always contributed to the social and economic development of Colombia. Today, when the sector can once again become a key player in the economic recovery, blockades and vandalism are an obstacle for this purpose and a source of unease for Colombians , “he explained the governing body of the FNC.
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