Land‑registry delays threaten smallholder access to fair‑price program

On a bright Tuesday morning, Carlos Méndez, a coffee farmer from the hills outside San Vicente, joined a growing line outside the Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs in the capital. He clutched a faded land‑title deed, hoping the paperwork would finally clear his farm for the fair‑price scheme that guarantees a minimum ₣3.20 per kilogram of beans. The queue stretched past the building’s glass doors, a visual reminder of a system straining under its own weight.

The office’s own figures, obtained from the Director of the Federal Electoral Commission, Olena Petrova, show a backlog of 2,340 land registrations across Tierra Verde. Of those, 1,870 belong to smallholders who rely on the federal fair‑price program for coffee and yerba mate. Without a registered title, the Cooperative Council in San Vicente cannot enroll the farms in the scheme, leaving them exposed to volatile market prices.

Governor Lucía Báez addressed the crowd from a temporary podium, acknowledging the delay and promising an “urgent task force” to accelerate processing. The cooperative’s chief administrator, Rosa Guaraní, added that members have begun a provisional audit to allocate interim payments, but warned that the approach is “fraught with risk.” An upcoming session of the Tierra Verde Assembly’s agriculture committee will debate a proposal to grant temporary certification while the backlog is cleared, a development the Herald will follow closely.