Minister of Agriculture: “Dominican Republic has enough supply to guarantee food security”

Limber Cruz, Minister of Agriculture, assured that the country has “enough supply” to guarantee food security today, despite acknowledging that the forecasts offered by international organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expect a famine to happen.

Therefore, by telephone in the program El Rumbo de la Mañana of the Rumba 98.5 FM station, Cruz attributed the creation of the Siembra RD plan to preventive measures, which were announced last Monday by President Luis Abinader. “We cannot wait for that; we have to act ahead because agricultural products are not automatic,” said the lawyer.

Likewise, Limber Cruz added that work is being done to avoid shortages of essential products and stressed that the country is “self-sufficient for the first time” in rice. “In this government, we had 1,400 million quintals left over last year. No government had reached the consumption of 13 million. They always stayed at 12, 12.3, and 12.4, and we reached 14.4 million quintals,” he said.

In addition, the official mentioned the increase in the production of bananas, vegetables, potatoes, cassava, and sweet potatoes, among others. He also stressed that “agricultural exports to the United States , Europe and other continents have increased.”

“We are taking the correct measures to guarantee agriculture and internal supply. Precisely to avoid shortages we take the measures in time. Because it is not putting out the fire but preventing it,” commented the economist.

High prices 

In another sense, the Minister of Agriculture pointed out that the increases in final consumer prices are due to the rise that products have suffered worldwide. “Economies in the world are intertwined; you are not an island apart from everything that happens in the world. Everything has a chain,” he expressed.