The Special Fund for Agricultural Development (FEDA) has announced on behalf of the government that it would be strengthening its program to fight rural poverty by increasing assistance for small and medium-scale agricultural producers in the countryside across the whole country.
As part of this initiative, FEDA will increase the delivery of heifers, lambs and breeding chickens to poor families in rural communities, in order to improve their quality of life.
With the support of President Danilo Medina, they will also distribute free farm tools such as picks and portable fumigation sprayers and other essential agricultural equipment.
The Director of FEDA has been handing over the items to rural communities in provinces including Independencia, San Juan de la Maguana, Maria Trinidad Sanchez, La Vega, Espaillat (Moca) and Santiago, where almost 10,000 poor families have received 60,000 laying hens, dozens of heifers, lambs and a range of tools, all free of charge.
Another of FEDA’s roles is to provide finance to the farmers so that they can expand their activities, such as the cultivation of ginger in Bayaguana in Monte Plata province where President Medina handed over RD$20 million in a project that will benefit more than 160 poor families in the area.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/01/09/i366936_feda-reforzara-programa-combate-pobreza.html