Protesters, led by the Emergency National Coordination of Farmers, gathered in Asunción yesterday to demand an extension to the national emergency food assistance scheme.

The programme, initiated by the government in January, follows an eight month period of drought which has seriously affected the agricultural sector.

The protesters have demand the extension of the initiative by six months to support rural families. The provisions include the delivery of seeds, food and credits to affected farmers. However, protesters have criticised the government for not effectively implementing the procedure.

“President Fernando Lugo declared three months of emergency food until April,” said Luis Aguayo, the secretary of the left-leaning Coordinating Board of Famers Organisation, in an interview with Associated Press.

“But he did not fully comply with the programme because the seeds intended for subsistence farming were not delivered; food donation was partial; and they have not refinanced loans granted by the Formentos National Bank to advance the planting of small farms and other benefits promised by the government.”

Around 215,000 poor rural families occupying land of up to 20 hectares still await aid.

Aguayo stated that “mobilisation is the first part of the protest to raise government awareness. If they do not respond, we will implement the second part: forceful measures such as the partial or complete blockage of national roads.”

Three hundred labourers temporarily closed parts of the motorway 36 kilometres to the south of Asunción on Tuesday.

In response, the Ministry of Agriculture stated on its website that the aid was centralised in indigenous communities in situations of extreme poverty. In addition, it admitted that the supply of seeds for subsistence farming and other benefits had not been fully met and that assistance would continue in May.

According to government statistics, 34% of Paraguayans are below the poverty line, 20% of whom live in extreme conditions.