Thursday, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the government had adopted in its three-year agricultural recovery plan, a series of measures aimed at strengthening the agricultural sector for the implementation of the exchange program Oil against food with Venezuela, following the redefinition of the Petrocaribe agreement.

Thomas Jacques, Minister of Agriculture, indicated that the team in place, was transforming the import policy in a genuine policy of local production to reach a stage where we will be able to export agricultural products for an amount of $12 million annually, to Venezuela, without reducing the amount of food consumed locally.

According to the Minister, the idea of ​​using agricultural products as currency to repay the oil debt is a good alternative, but to get there it will be necessary to increase the production of mass consumption products in order to send a part on the Venezuelan market and the other on the local market "We identify products where we already have a habit of export, such as coffee, cocoa and mango [...] we have also identified nearly 16 products with which we can begin to enter into negotiations with Venezuela. These are, among others, coffee, cocoa, beans, peas congo, bananas, sugar cane syrup, rice Sheila, cassava and yam [...]"

Joseph Vernet, the Secretary of State for Agricultural Recovery, is convinced that the agricultural sector must be a strategic development pole in Haiti, saying that "agriculture must feed the population and also contribute significantly to the development of country."

For part, Dorcin Fresner, the Secretary of State for crop production, said that the measures taken, go through the strengthening of departmental structures in order to decentralize the governance of the sector. Revealing that about 15 local and international investors are interested to come and invest in agriculture in Haiti.

Pierre Garry Mathieu, he National Coordinator for food safety, said that the 2012-2013 fiscal year was very good for the agricultural sector, stressing that the objectives of maize, beans, bananas, yams and cassava were achieved to more than 80%.

TB/ HaitiLibre