The Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) emphasized, on Wednesday, the necessity of reforming marketing chains and regulating the role of brokers in order to mitigate the price hike of foodstuffs.
The council recommended several measures to restrict the speculation practice by these brokers, including the reform of the wholesale markets by making professionals abide by the specifications, the issuance of rules of procedures in the market, and the observance of eligibility conditions for practicing the job.
The CESE also suggested creating cooperatives, encouraging small businesses, particularly by assisting small and medium-scale farmers, and keeping an eye on the strategies used in sugar and dairy production.
It also proposed establishing a legal framework to govern the storage of agricultural products in order to effectively combat speculative storage.
The Council also urged the digitalization of agricultural products marketing by creating digital platforms allowing farmers to have immediate access to data on real prices to better negotiate with stakeholders in the marketing chains.
Additionally, the CESE called for reinforcing the control of prices and respecting competitiveness to curb speculation in various sectors, as well as setting up a “price and profit margin observatory” to help detect unjustified high profit at the expense of citizens’ purchasing power.