Primary yerba mate production in Paraguay is facing a deep crisis, with small producers in the Itapúa department receiving unsustainable prices for green leaf. A kilo delivered to the dryer is paid at G. 1,200, of which G. 200 goes to freight and G. 300 to manual harvesting, leaving the producer with only G. 700. In contrast, processed yerba is traded at G. 6,000 per kilo, highlighting the power of large companies in price formation.
Faced with this situation, the Chamber of Deputies declared a national emergency for the sector, on the initiative of Deputy Germán Solinger (ANR-Itapúa). The measure accompanies the plea of the Federation of Yerba Mate Producers of Northeast Itapúa (FEPYN), which warns that the lack of profitability is leading many farmers to uproot their yerba plantations to make way for the expansion of transgenic soy.
Solinger stressed that producers are not demanding the government set prices, but rather that it fulfill its intermediary role as provided for in the Agrarian Statute. Article 25 of the law obliges the state to intervene in the relationship between producer and buyer to ensure fair trade. The emergency declaration instructs state agencies to enforce this rule, along with regulating the yerba mate industry and approving specific legislation to protect workers in the sector.
FEPYN states that hundreds of peasant families depend on yerba mate as a cash crop, but the absence of a fair price threatens the continuity of the activity. Many producers are already considering switching sectors, while transgenic soy advances over areas previously dedicated to yerba plantations.