The Presidency launched the National Plan for Food Sovereignty, Nutritional and Food Security on Tuesday, 16 October 2018. Speaking at a formal event at the Presidential Palace, President Danilo Medina said food security has been a priority of his government from day one.
In this context, Medina explained that food security consists in guaranteeing the availability and access of food to the population to meet the nutritional needs of all citizens. Food sovereignty is the right of a nation to establish agrarian and food policies that guarantee food security, the sustainable development of the Dominican Republic and its independence from the vagaries of international markets. Food sovereignty implies the protection of a country’s domestic market, the support of its producers and the strengthening of the economy.
Medina said to achieve these food and farming systems goals, his administration intends to continue to support farmers. “We support our producers because we are convinced that the only truly sustainable strategy against hunger is the revitalization of the Dominican countryside and its ability to produce food and decent income for families,” he said in the keynote speech to launch the plan. “And that is precisely what we have been doing for six years through the surprise visits that all Dominicans already very familiar with.”
“The result of all this is that today in our country we produce more than 85% of the food we consume. This is a great achievement that we can feel proud of as Dominicans. This translates into savings for the pockets of the families, because the country has a low or no dependency on imports, enjoys low inflation and scarce price fluctuations,” he said.
He said that the Dominican Republic supplies 100% of the domestic demand for rice, poultry, eggs, pigeon peas, sweet potatoes, yautia, cassava, plantains, bananas, potatoes, squash, peppers, among other crops. He said the production of rice, eggs, milk, pork, chicken and beef for 2017 for the local market was US$1.5 billion, a sum that would have otherwise had to be imported. He estimated local food producers supplied US$857 million to the country’s hotels, and exported US$1.2 billion in food products. “These are figures that clearly show we are on the right path,” said the President.
Medina said that UN FAO statistics, nevertheless, indicate that much work is still needed to improve local nutritional needs. He said the plan presented “will help us focus our efforts on continuing to improve our nutritional status and guarantee that each citizen has access to a wide variety of healthy and wholesome food.”
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Presidencia
MetroRD
17 October 2018
