Locked Out: How Paperwork Delays Strip Farmers of Fair-Price Protection

María Elena Gómez stands in the office of the Cooperative Council in San Vicente, holding a thin folder that contains the only proof she owns the land her family has worked for three generations. Inside are hand-drawn maps, a tax receipt from 1998, and a letter from the council confirming her membership status. What is missing—the one document that would unlock access to the federal fair-price scheme—is a certificate from the Federal Registry of Agricultural Land. That certificate has been pending for nineteen months.

Gómez is one of approximately 2,800 smallholders in Tierra Verde whose land-registration applications are stalled in the federal system. The backlog has created a crisis of access: farmers with registered titles can sell through the cooperatives at prices guaranteed by the federal fair-price scheme, earning a floor price that protects them from market collapse. Those without certificates—even if the cooperative and the regional government confirm their ownership—must sell at whatever price buyers offer, often 15 to 20 percent below the guaranteed rate.

The delay is not a matter of missing paperwork or disputed claims. The Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs confirmed this week that the registry backlog is purely administrative: the federal system has received all required documentation but lacks the processing capacity to issue certificates. The office estimates it will take until mid-2027 to clear the current queue.