BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Argentine farm groups announced Tuesday they would launch a new strike from Friday in protest against the government's agricultural policy.

    The strike will last six days, during which Argentine farmers would halt sales of livestock and grains, except for those from areas affected by drought, said Hugo Biolcati, head of the Argentine Rural Society.

    Meanwhile, they will also stage a series of strike protests around the country, Biolcati added.

    The farmers in Argentina have been facing an increasingly difficult situation since March, when the government imposed a system of floating-rate taxes which led to increases in export tariffs on farm produce, according to Biolcati.

    The government, however, failed to take effective initiatives to address the concerns of the farmers as their situation was even worsened due to one of the worst droughts in decades, Biolcati added.

    The farm groups, which had given the government enough time to solve the dispute, had to start a fresh strike as the government failed to give them any positive responses, said Eduardo Buzzi, leader of the Argentine Agrarian Federation.

    This time, however, farmers would not block rural highways as they did- during previous strikes so as not to have people's daily life disturbed, Buzzi added.

    Agricultural Secretary Carlos Cheppi said on Monday the government was working on a series of measures aimed at benefiting the farmers, which would involve increasing aid for farmers affected by the drought and raising subsidies for dairy farmers.

    However, the farm groups accused the government of failing to take any practical actions to help the farm sector, and of offering lip services only.

    Since March, farmers in Argentina have staged a series of strike protests. The conflict ended in mid-July when the government scrapped the tax hike on agricultural exports.

    The month-long strikes severely disrupted the South American country's farm production and export.