The general director of the Dominican Agrarian Institute (IAD), agronomist Francis William Garciadeclared this Saturday that the Government has guaranteed the food security of the country despite the effects of the pandemic and more recently the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Garcia referred to the contribution of the IAD in terms of food production, with a program of 320,000 land tasks that the agency prepares free of charge for producers throughout the countryin conjunction with the Ministry of Agricultureof which 106,000 are already worked.
García answered questions from producers Julio Hazim, Michael Hazim and Ramón Santos, who alluded to sectors that analyze the reality of the country without taking into account the crisis situation in which President Abinader began his government.
The director of IAD showed in the program recent activities carried out by the organization such as the delivery of pumping systems for the peasant settlements of Tamayo, Bahoruco, the celebration at its headquarters of the Second Agricultural Fair of the Castaña de Masa, deliveries of definitive titles to thousands of families and meetings with representatives of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Fund Agriculture (FAO), among others.
“When we arrived at the institution we found most of the programs abandoned, we had to do a survey and start working, but the fruits are already being seen in settlements throughout the country, in which we have had the support of President Abinader” , commented the official interviewed on the television program Revista 110.
He also offered explanations about the projects of the IAD aimed at the creation of cooperatives of parceleros, so that they go from the condition of simple parceleros to that of agricultural entrepreneurs, as an important step to get out of poverty.
He indicated that the conversion of parceleros from farmers to small agricultural entrepreneurs is a global trend, shared by the IAD with international organizations such as the FAO, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA).
Garcia said that the fear of a great famine that threatens the world, in the Dominican Republic was confronted by the government with its effective policy of support for the agricultural sector, which included zero-rate financing in the Agricultural Bank, along with subsidies of several billion pesos for inputs.
Although he acknowledged that some levels of inflation have been registered, it has been lower than in other countries, while the abundance of all food items has avoided the shortages that affect sister nations.
