Colombia's agriculture minister, Indalecio Dangond, told farmers in Urumita on the Caribbean coast not to plant rice, urging them to grow cashew instead. The advice went to growers from La Guajira and Cesar, who are already facing a two-year price slump and a dispute with his ministry. Growers, lawmakers and former president Gustavo Petro quickly criticized the remarks.
“Rice is no longer a business. Don’t plant rice, rice is not a business. It is very risky, it needs a lot of water,” Dangond said, according to El Colombiano. Infobae quoted him saying rice prices “are very volatile,” meaning farmers can sow with high hopes and harvest when prices have fallen. He named cashew, coconut, oil palm, pomegranate and plantain as options for La Guajira. “Plant once and think in 25 years,” he said, contrasting permanent crops with rice, which needs fresh investment every six months. Dangond serves under President Abelardo de la Espriella.
The Price Squeeze
The numbers behind the minister's blunt message are hard to dismiss. In Huila, paddy rice fetched about 230,000 pesos (about US$69) per carga in November 2022, Alci Cortés of the growers' movement Dignidad Arrocera told Diario del Huila. A carga is 125 kilograms of unmilled rice. The price later dropped to 169,500 pesos (about US$51), then stood near 193,200 pesos (about US$58) in late September. Cortés put the break-even price at 208,000 to 209,000 pesos (about US$63).
“We have been working at a loss for two years,” Cortés said, estimating that 60 to 70 percent of growers had lost money. Dearer fertilizer added about 1.2 million pesos (about US$360) to the cost of a hectare in 2026, he said. He linked a partial price recovery to lower supply after weather cut output in some areas. Fedearroz, the national growers' federation, said on 29 September that irrigated sowing had fallen about 30 percent as rivers ran low.
Pushback and Practical Limits
Not everyone accepted the minister's advice. Huila grower Martín Vargas told Caracol Radio the region has suitable land and mills built for rice. About 2,500 producers there sow some 47,000 hectares each semester, he said. Julio Roberto Salazar, a Conservative who chairs the lower house farm committee, said producers shouldn't be told to abandon a strategic crop. Senate vice-president Alejandro Ocampo noted cashew can take five to seven years to mature.
Petro, who left office in August 2026, called the advice “miserable towards the people of Colombia” in a post on X. He argued that cutting cereal output would raise the risk of hunger if devaluation and drought hit at the same time.
Money, Audits and the Import Clock
The dispute also involves public money. Fedearroz asked the ministry on 29 September to help refinance growers' debts after low prices in the 2025 and 2026 harvests. It said millers in Casanare raised paddy prices only after about 80 percent of the crop had been sold. Meanwhile, the ministry ordered a forensic-style review of funds managed by the federation, El Colombiano reported. The review covers about 552 billion pesos (about US$167 million) from import auctions and a farm levy over 15 years. Board chair César Augusto Saavedra said the federation was open to any review and noted that the Comptroller General's office, the state audit body, already checks the funds yearly.
In Tolima, grower Juan Pablo Rodríguez told Caracol Radio farmers must rethink crops before rice imports become duty-free in 2030. Rice prices in neighboring Ecuador neared US$50 a quintal after a 39% jump, the report said. Tolima has about 4,870 rice growers in 11 municipalities, according to departmental figures cited on 4 October 2026. Fewer plantings, combined with El Niño, could tighten domestic rice supply in coming harvests, the account warned.
Whether Dangond's advice will become policy remains unclear. The ministry has published no plan, and Fedearroz's refinancing request has drawn no public answer. Growers in Huila and Tolima want a round table with the ministry, millers and Fedearroz, but no date has been announced. By Sunday evening, no direct Fedearroz reply to Dangond's remark had been reported.
Why This Matters:
The episode raises a hard question for farm policy: how far should a government go in backing a crop when prices won't cover costs? The minister is pointing growers toward diversification. Growers answer that rice land, mills and jobs already exist, and cashew can take five to seven years to mature. A refinancing request is still pending, and the funds review covers about 552 billion pesos. Those two issues will test how the ministry balances taxpayer exposure against accountability. With duty-free rice imports due in 2030, farmers and officials have a limited window to decide where private investment should go.