IICA’s Office in Costa Rica facilitated the process of drafting the new agricultural policy.
San Jose. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) of Costa Rica has presented the national policy that will guide the efforts to reactivate agricultural production. The commitments assumed by the Ministry include protecting and supporting family farmers, overhauling the financial services provided to the sector, and stimulating national production and innovation.
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Luis Felipe Arauz, explained the areas selected for strategic actions, which will be carried out with a view to improving the lot of farming families, guaranteeing them a fair income for what they produce and recognizing the sector’s contributions to the Costa Rican economy, democracy, and the environment.
During the development of the policy, the ministry consulted a variety of stakeholders and studied assessments of the situation in the sector. The Office of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Costa Rica facilitated the process.
The strategic areas announced by the MAG are:
- Food and nutrition sovereignty and security
- Opportunities for young people in agriculture and rural territories
- Rural area-based development
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture
- Strengthening of the agro-export sector
“We want to increase productivity and competitiveness, improving research and extension and working hand in hand with producers in the private sector, through strategic partnerships with academia and the establishment of coordination mechanisms and links with sector entities and other institutions with which we are building bridges, in order to improve the conditions in which our farmers produce,” Minister Arauz explained.
In his view, the two major forces driving the agricultural sector are exports and the domestic market. “We seek to serve and support both of them by means of more and better research, the simplification of formalities, better financing and harvest insurance tools, as well as other actions included in the work plan through 2018,” he pointed out.
Based on a MAG press release.
Más información:
miguel.arvelo@iica.int
