The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC) has reportedly announced that it will pay the the remaining aid stipends to coffee farmers who applied for them before the end of the 2013, reported Caracol Radio.
This moves came less than a week before planned coffee farmer strikes. FNC will reportedly pay the remaining 74,000 coffee farmers who were found to be eligible for government assistance after applying for the stipends during the month of December last year.
Agrarian discontent in August last year led to major national strikes that resulted in violence and disruption across Colombia. Five people were killed in clashes with the police, 458 people were injured and highways and roads were closed down around the country.
As part of the deal to end the strikes, the Colombian government created a Coffee Income Protection (PIC) plan that agreed to pay stipends to coffee farmers if internal coffee prices fell below about $350 for a 275 pound bag of coffee.
Since then, according to Caracol Radio, the Colombian government has reportedly already paid $500 million to Colombia’s coffee farmers in accordance with the PIC.
Coffee growers announced earlier this year an intent to strike once again because they say the government has failed to carry out six of the seven terms agreed upon following the strikes last year.
One of the major complaints coffee farmers had, according to a spokesman for the Coffee Grower’s Dignity (Dignidad Cafetera), was that only 80% of coffee farmers received the PIC assistance they had been promised.
The announcement that the FNC will pay the remaining claims came a week before the planned strikes and could be an attempt to show good will towards the coffee growers.
Source: http://colombiareports.co/colombia-coffee-federation-pay-promised-stipend-farmers-2013/#
