We have food

[NewsWhore]

Agriculture Minister Salvador "Chio" Jimenez says the DR will not be affected by international food shortages. He emphasized the DR, despite the switch from agriculture to services, still is a major farm producer. Jimenez said that the difference between the DR and other countries is that the many other countries "have money, but they don't have the production, in the DR there is everything, thanks to the vision of President Leonel Fernandez." Last week industry sector leaders, Jesus Moreno and Ignacio Mendez spoke up on the need for a national action plan to spur local production of food, following on recommendations by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). According to Moreno and Mendez, a failure to do so would bring governance problems. Yesterday, Pavel Isa of the UN FAO made the point that the DR has become more dependent on imported foods, to the tune of 17% of consumption, up from 5%, at a time when recent trends have shown a drastic increase in international food prices.
Cesareo Contreras of the Dominican Landowners and Farmer Association also feels the government needs to develop a new plan for domestic food production. He wants an increase in subsidies, technical assistance and financing so that farmers can increase the lands under production.
Nevertheless, Agriculture Minister Jimenez feels all is well. He told Hoy that there is no need to create any such plan. He pointed to the rapid recovery of damages to farms caused by tropical storms Noel and Olga.

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