This Tuesday, October 18, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cecilia López Montaño, announced that the first phase of the Fund for Access to Agricultural Inputs, with which they intend to deliver economic aid to 120,000 small producers to purchase supplies at any of the 10,000 authorized commercial establishments.
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The program has the objective of increase the supply and quality of agricultural products that leave the Colombian countryside to supply local markets.
From the agriculture portfolio, it is estimated that this measure will have a positive impact on the sale price to the consumer, since the prioritized production chains are part of the basic family basket.
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“The bet is to promote national agricultural production and, therefore, we activate this Fund so that small producers are reimbursed 20% of the purchase of their inputs, such as simple or compound fertilizers for crops and balanced feed for animal husbandry.”, explained the minister.
The initiative in this first phase will be aimed at small producers of corn, plantain, rice, potato, cassava, sugar cane, onion, carrot, orange, tree tomato, banana, tomato, blackberry, mango, lemon, pineapple, yams, beans and strawberries. The livestock sector will benefit from poultry, pig, aquaculture, livestock and sheep and goat farming projects.
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Minister López specified that the economic incentives will apply to purchases made between November 17 and December 31, 2022.
“We invite small producers to join this program, there are 80 billion pesos to allocate to these production chains and thus contribute to rural development”, he stated.
For this phase, the potential beneficiaries are invited to process the small producer certificate issued by the departmental or municipal secretariats of Agriculture, or the entity that fulfills that function in the area in which they live.
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They can also request it with legally constituted unions and organizations of producers in the agricultural sector.
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