With the presence of the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, the Special Fund for the agricultural development (feda) and the Government of Azua organized the first Festival of Tomato in the central park of Azua, which will last until this Sunday, February 19 of the current year.
Hecmilio Galván, director of FEDA, highlighted, during the opening ceremony, the importance of cultivating tomato and, above all, the self-sufficiency of the country in this crop and its derivatives such as pasta tomato and ketchup, which are highly consumed for the dominicans.
The director of the feda He highlighted that, in recognition of the work of more than 3,000 producers, they will promote the creation of cooperatives in this sector to support productive projects through the feda.
He also announced the construction in Azua of a Training center to continue modernizing production for an amount of five million and the installation of a plant phytopathology laboratory in conjunction with the Technological University of the South (Utesur) with financing of more than 12 million pesos.
Galvan stated that the festival seeks to position Azua as the Tomato Capital in the Dominican Republic and make visible the thousands of men and women who are dedicated to the production of a highly consumed product in the country.
In addition, it guarantees the development of that southern province, with a production that covers more than 50 thousand tasks of this vegetable.
The official stressed that, in recognition of the producers, the feda is supporting the Governorate of Azua in this Festival, which is an investment attraction, with which the peoples come together, integrate and show the best of themselves to promote identity and strengthen nationality.
The governor of Azua, Gray Perez, thanked the president for his support Luis Abinader to the farmers of Azua, as well as the support of the FEDA to the festival while highlighting its importance to improve the name of Azua.
Sector tomato
Miguel Sanchezpresident of the Agro Canned Manufacturers Association (Afconagro), highlighted that the country has close to 70 thousand cultivated tasks of tomato.
During the act Miguel Sánchez, also vice president of the cute groupnarrated some passages of the history of the tomato cultivation in the Dominican Republic, highlighting that the country was a pioneer in the planting and processing of tomato in America, dating from the year 1973.
He Tomato Festival It was the idea of the governor of Azua, Ángela Pérez Díaz (Grey) and was supported by the feda within its Consume lo Nuestro program that is carried out throughout the country together with Confenagro.
In the first version of the fair participate:
- He Department of agriculture
- The Dominican Agrarian Institute
- The Agricultural Bank
- He Ministry of Tourism
- confenager
- aconagero
- The Inespre
- Azua Town Hall
The Technological University of the South (utesur), among other institutions that will give nearly 30 talks and conferences on the tomato during the event.