Acoforag Warns: 50 Contractors Disappeared Due to Terrorism, Fires, and Lack of Afforestation
The manager of Acoforag, René Muñoz, stated that 50 forestry contractors have disappeared and have sought other activities, because "in our case, another issue must be added: terrorism, which the Minister of Defense, Adriana Delpiano, is unaware of, and which has affected us more significantly since 2014."
He added that, if you also add forest fires and the lack of afforestation, the activity suffers and obviously affects the simplest, most complicated, and most sensitive links, which are the forestry contractors and the SMEs.
For its part, the National Association of Small and Medium-Sized Wood Industrialists warned about the crisis affecting the forestry sector, which has resulted in the closure of sawmills, layoffs, and impoverishment of the industry. In this regard, the Regional Minister of Labor of Biobío, Sandra Quintana, attributed this situation to the decrease in the crime of wood theft.
She stated that, in light of this, the forestry guild is facing a structural problem which was exacerbated by the pandemic and that one of the reasons for the decrease in raw material was the enforcement of the wood theft law, indicating that stolen wood was being sold irregularly to sawmills.
Meanwhile, Michel Esquerré, national president of Pymemad, added that short-term measures are killing the sector. "If you project decision-making over 20 years, today the short-term focus of presidential elections and in all aspects is killing the economy, along with the level of economic concentration in the country. So, if we do not support the value of SMEs in the territories, their work, and their productive linkages, we will be undermining the productive foundations of an economic ecosystem that will sooner or later harm everyone, all large and small companies," he stated.
The note on the Youtube channel of Canal 9 BiobioTV
