Layoffs and chainsaws: the Government will seek to cut up to 1700 jobs at INTA and would close experimental agencies

Despite the rejections it has faced in the Judiciary and Congress, the Government will seek to continue what it internally calls the "transformation" process at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) and advance a reduction of up to 1,700 workers through voluntary retirements. According to a high-level source familiar with the matter, the initiative aims to "align the institute with the efficiency standards of the State." The INTA staff is currently 5,822 workers. The initiative, which was stalled for four months due to internal resistance and the halt in the mentioned areas caused by a reform decree, proposes a complete review of the agency's structure. This process could lead to the closure of research centers that, according to the Government, do not justify their infrastructure or are not delivering results in line with production demands. Official sources said that the agency "still operates with a structure designed for the productive matrix of half a ...