Mayor Nelson Guillén affirms that the Canastica market is ready for its modification
San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, August 2018. On August 7th, the IICA Delegation in the Dominican Republic and authorities of the City Hall of San Cristobal held a follow-up meeting about improvements in the conditions of marketing and food safety of the Don Abelardo Liriano market, located in the community of Canastica, San Cristobal.
The meeting was chaired by Mayor Nelson Guillén, who was accompanied by Mr. José Hernández, Administrator of the Mr. Abelardo Liriano Market. Other participants in the meeting were Mr. Arcadio Tavares, Director of Operations and Mr. Milton Paniagua, Head of the Planning Department on behalf of MERCADOM. Mr. Frank Lam, Representative and Gaudy Suzaña, Specialist in Agricultural Health and Food Safety were presented from IICA Dominican Republic.
Mr. Hernández highlighted that the infrastructure and distribution improvements recommended by MERCADOM personnel have been applied. They stated that the Canastica Market is ready to receive merchants; it currently has 290 available seats in total, including: fruits, vegetables, groceries, stores, coffee shops, etc.
Mayor Guillén indicated that the current conditions in which the market is located represent a risk to the health of consumers and that they are already more than forty blocks impacted, including the entrance of the hospital, with the street vending of agricultural products. It indicates that the mobilization of the vendors towards the facilities of the new market will be carried out as soon as possible. The Mayor also requested the technical cooperation of IICA for the establishment of Best Practices on food handling in order to guarantee the safety of the food that will be sold in the market.
Mr. Frank Lam reiterated IICA´s willingness to offer technical support, especially in the area of food safety and quality, as well as commercialization.
More information: Gaudy Suzaña, Specialist in Agricultural Health and Food Safety, gaudy.suzaña@iica.int
