President Danilo Medina gave the keynote address to delegates from around the world attending the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Committee (COAG) on Agriculture’s 24th session in Rome today, Monday 29 September 2014.
Medina described his weekend surprise visits to small farmer organizations, saying they have helped trigger the process of empowering small-scale farmers. He told the audience that in the past two years he has made 76 visits nationwide to help boost farming-related projects. He says 504 commitments have been made for 303 productive projects and 198 community projects worth US$283 million, creating 50,841 direct jobs and 127,700 indirect jobs.
“You can be sure that in the next two years of government we have before us we will continue to work hard so that farming and rural communities stop being a pending task and become, on the contrary, a solution to many of the challenges of the 21st Century. We are going to continue working with responsibility to ensure that the Dominican Republic can feed all of its sons and daughters,” said Medina.
He highlighted that poverty had declined by 6% and 9% in rural areas in the first 18 months of his administration, benefitting 528,061 people. He highlighted that of 155 municipalities in the country, in 133 municipalities, people make a living in farming for 14% of the population. Farming represents 5.9% of GDP.
During his speech he explained advances the Dominican Republic has made in farming and food security.
The COAG is held to discuss issues such as family farming, sustainable agriculture, food safety, sustainable livestock production, the global soil partnership and agricultural heritage systems. The committee is one of FAO’s leading governing bodies. The event takes place in Rome from 29 September to 3 October. The COAG usually meets every two years.
Medina is scheduled to return on Wednesday, 1 October 2014.
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