The government put numbers on the so-called “spill” carried out by agricultural activity in other areas of society. As an example, it was indicated that in 2021 only in the industrial food sector the generation of work increased by 8%. This was exposed in the framework of the Inale Forum 2022an annual conference organized by the National Milk Institute (Inale) in which a fine-tuning is carried out on various issues related to the dairy agribusiness, which this year took place in the Telecommunications Tower in person, something that has not happened since 2019.
Juan Ignacio Buffa, Undersecretary of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheriesin the presentation of the conference he held together with Juan Daniel Vago (president of Inale), initially highlighted the value of face-to-face activities in the agricultural sector.
“The sector was missing these spaces, to get together, to look at each other face to face (…) It is the agricultural sector of the business area where the contract made with the handshake continues to exist,” he said. And he added that it is essential “to connect in the best way” and that the Inale Forum is a “very relevant” activity for the sector.
Buffa affirmed, before an audience that filled the room, that the dairy sector “is strategic” for the country.
With that as a frame, mentioned a set of actions implemented during the current government administration “to improve competitiveness: that is our goal”. He clarified that “it is not generated overnight, it is not generated spontaneously”, highlighting the applied strategy: “Building on the good things that were before, improving the things that need to be improved and doing some new things”.
In this sense, he spoke on the issue of financing the Fogale modification, the changes in the Milk Fund that have allowed producers to return money that was theirs, the initiatives of Banco República and the work in the National Colonization Institute. obtaining credits at subsidized rates for settlers.
➡️ The Undersecretary @ignacio_buffa launched the forum @INALE_UY 2022, together with its President @JuanDanielVago1
? Telecommunications Tower @AntelDeTodosMario Benedetti Auditorium ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8fqcpYxP8G
— MGAP (@MGAPuruguay) June 1, 2022
“I think we have had a proactive agenda, which is not exhausted”he expressed.
He also highlighted a “vocation” of this administration, “openness to the world”.
He then spoke of the value of the instrument that the Commission for the Application of the Investment Law (Comap) means and of its new regulations, which in two years have allowed the reception of a record number of investment projects.
“We are supporting instruments so that the much-needed investments for the development of the dairy sector have financial instruments that are as adjusted as possible so that they concentrate the maturation processes of these investments,” he said.
Buffa also alluded to the importance of paying attention to small producers, recalling, as Vago had done at the beginning of the activity, the launch one day before the Inale Forum of the project that focuses on the development of artisan cheesemaking, already in its third phase, with the participation of the institute, municipalities and the ministry.
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Juan Daniel Vago and Juan Ignacio Buffa, at the start of the Inale Forum 2022.
Then he remembered something that is always mentioned, the importance of the spillover of benefits that the sector generates for the communities in which there is dairy activity, after which he presented a set of figures for 2021 that account for “the enormous spillover that the agricultural sector has in general throughout the society”.
- In the food industries there was 8% more work
- In cold storage industries 25% more
- In poultry, 8% more
- In textiles 18% more
- In those of wood, 16% more
- In agrochemicals between 16 and 34% more
“When the agricultural sector works, when it starts to pump, the country’s economy moves, that is why the agricultural sector is absolutely strategic for this administration”Buffa emphasized.
He pointed out that this administration attends to the agricultural sector as a whole, “both the Banco República and the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy… we are articulating and trying to coordinate policies that leverage this sector, which without a doubt is a strategic sector for the development of the country, not exclusive”.
“If the agricultural sector is developed, a large set of activities is developed,” concluded the MGAP undersecretary.
