A study revealed that 80% of rural roads in a key agricultural region are in poor condition and generate significant economic losses.

This is stated in a joint study between the Argentine Business University (UADE), the Argentine Association of Direct Sowing Producers (Aapresid), the CREA Movement and the Argentine Rural Society (SRA) carried out on the southeastern region of Buenos Aires and the Salado Basin.

According to the report, the 79% of the producers and agricultural professionals surveyed, assured that the rural road network is in “bad” or “very bad” conditions, while the 75% He maintained that they are not passable throughout the year.

Based on this panorama, the 68% of those consulted declared having suffered “real economic losses” due to delays or the absolute impossibility of removing production from the fields, at the same time as the 59% of the sample estimated that the poor condition of the roads increases the logistics cost by more than 10%.

Regarding this last item, it entails “higher freight, maintenance and wear costs: road deterioration reduces the useful life of tires and increases fuel consumption by 20-30% on dirt roads in poor condition.”

Another important point highlighted was the specification of the problems that trucks have. Thus, the 68% of the participants reported the massive existence of wells in the dirt roads, while 82% confirmed the presence of deformations in the road (27% quite frequently and 55% from time to time).

On the other hand, 82% of the producers surveyed reported non-existent or deteriorated road signs on dirt roads, which shows “an absence in maintenance or updating for road safety.”

Furthermore, a 70% of those surveyed considered coordination between the municipality and the producers to be important to improve the roads, while 45% maintained that the priority is the stabilization of the soil with cement or tosca as the main point of improvement.

The report detailed that Argentina has 500,000 kilometers of rural roads and represent 82% of Argentina’s total road network and although they “fulfill a function that transcends the transportation of agricultural goods” and have a “strategic relevance” in the country’s productive network, its maintenance and development “It has historically been relegated in public policies.”

“The analysis carried out allows us to conclude that the deterioration of rural roads does not merely represent a logistical inconvenience, but rather a direct transfer of costs that erodes the competitiveness of the producer and the country,” the work highlighted and added: “the lack of sustained investment, the absence of long-term planning and the progressive deterioration of the infrastructure limit its ability to respond to current productive and social needs.”

Although the maintenance of roads is a municipal and/or provincial responsibility, depending on the case, an issue for which fees or taxes are paid, the truth is that the services of the majority of districts are deficient and that success stories result from joint work between the private and public sectors.

That is why the work considers that ““The participation of producers is essential for any process to improve the tertiary road network.”

The survey shows that the problem transcends productivity and affects daily aspects linked to work, education, health and rural connectivity. “In this context, the most relevant data is that 7 out of 10 producers express their willingness to collaborate with municipal and provincial governments in public-private management schemes aimed at improving the allocation of resources and maintenance of roads,” the study concluded.