NewsWhore
06-05-2008, 02:30 PM
The president of the Dominican Agribusiness Council, Jose Ramon Peralta, and Juan Jose Espinal, director of the Center for Agricultural and Forestry Development are calling for efforts to restore the desirability of living in rural areas if the country is to rise to the challenge of increasing its local food production. In an interview with Hoy newspaper, JAD president Jose Ramon Peralta called for increased funding, subsidies on diesel and alternatives for organic fertilizer production, to compensate for increased production costs and eliminate the dependency on imports.
Juan Jose Espinal said that major investments were needed in infrastructure, health and education for rural areas to make them desirable for farmers and their heirs to stay on the farmlands. "We need to find a model that makes living on farms attractive," he said. "The time has come to think of another type of farming, one that is long-term and makes more efficient use of water". He said that small and medium-scale agriculture needed to be made profitable again. They favor new technologies such as hydroponic farming.
During the interview with Hoy, the rector of the Higher Agriculture Institute, engineer Benito Ferreiras warned that in addition to its nine million inhabitants, the DR would also have to find ways of feeding nine million Haitians. Ferreiras said that patches would not work this time around. He said that the implementation of a sustainable action plan is needed in order to make farming sustainable and competitive as well as to guarantee food security.
In his speech at the World Food Summit, President Leonel Fernandez announced that the government would be launching a National Farming Competitiveness Plan, an action plan to stimulate farm production.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
Juan Jose Espinal said that major investments were needed in infrastructure, health and education for rural areas to make them desirable for farmers and their heirs to stay on the farmlands. "We need to find a model that makes living on farms attractive," he said. "The time has come to think of another type of farming, one that is long-term and makes more efficient use of water". He said that small and medium-scale agriculture needed to be made profitable again. They favor new technologies such as hydroponic farming.
During the interview with Hoy, the rector of the Higher Agriculture Institute, engineer Benito Ferreiras warned that in addition to its nine million inhabitants, the DR would also have to find ways of feeding nine million Haitians. Ferreiras said that patches would not work this time around. He said that the implementation of a sustainable action plan is needed in order to make farming sustainable and competitive as well as to guarantee food security.
In his speech at the World Food Summit, President Leonel Fernandez announced that the government would be launching a National Farming Competitiveness Plan, an action plan to stimulate farm production.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)