Agriculture calls to be positive in the face of current drought

The Minister of Agriculture, Limber Cruz, called on all the sectors that are affected by the seasonal drought that is affecting the country, to be positive in the face of the situation, just before the institution he directs announced the selective irrigation of crops in the face of the phenomenon that strongly attacks agriculture. According to the head of the agricultural portfolio, it is true that the drought has affected producers, but he denied that this is happening to the extent that some have raised it. According to Cruz, at the moment production has been affected between seven and ten percent, which depends on the area where the crops are located.

“There are always decreases in production when there are droughts, what we cannot say is, because I have heard it, is that production fell by 40 or 45 percent. That is not true. It is true that it has affected (the drought), but not in the dimension that they want to put it. We can speak at this time of seven or eight percent, or ten percent, no more than that, depending on the area. Remember that the country has much drier areas and that there are cases like the central cibao that resists more, not so much the deep south and part of the east,” said the official when interviewed prior to his participation in the act which celebrated National Consumer Day. Given the current reality, the Minister of Agriculture asked to wait for the rains that are expected for the next few days, but at the same time, he did not fail to highlight the actions that, as a Government, have been taken to mitigate the effects of the drought.

“We are going to be positive and the truth is that the Government is doing a lot to mitigate. Regarding cattle, we are attacking strongly on the northwest line, especially in Montecristi, Dajabón, and Santiago Rodríguez. Since yesterday we have been penetrating the south with bales, well drills, tanker trucks, diesel for the submersible pumps, and with all kinds of pumps to extract the water. We are doing what we can do as a government,” he said.