The regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean from the World Bank Sustainable Development Group, Anna Wellenstein, highlighted Uruguay on Tuesday for its strategy to enter selective markets with organic products.
The World Bank hierarch referred to the environmental demands of European consumers and stated that “countries are making a strategic decision of wanting to be the first to enter those markets because they see (them) as more self-worth, more profitable markets “. In an interview with the newspaper Último Hora in Paraguay, he highlighted the country within the group that is taking this strategy seriously: “The example in agriculture is Uruguay,” he stressed.
“The large producers are going to have the capacity (…) to adapt to new markets and new demands, because people are willing to pay more to producers who are not linked to deforestationHowever, “the small producer often does not have the capacity in knowledge to change the way of production nor do they have the financial resources to do so,” said Wellenstein.
Therefore, he assured that “an important point, for example, is having the traceability and produce with confidence, like in Uruguay. ” He pointed out that the country “is investing a lot in product monitoring systems to verify that they are produced in a green way and the markets that are ready to pay more in these projects also insist that this system gives confidence.”
Wellenstein has more than 20 years of experience in urban development and infrastructure as regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean and is responsible for the agriculture, climate, disaster risk management, environment, land, social, urban and water portfolios.