Senator Rogelio Genao asked Dominican President Luis Abinader to suspend garlic imports during August, September, and October to ensure the placement of the national product on the market.
"Banning garlic imports in those three months would suffice," the legislator said, expressing his concern for the future of local producers. The national garlic harvest is concentrated at the beginning of July, mainly in the municipality of Constanza, and it barely covers 20% of the national consumption, he said. Thus, he warned, the country cannot aspire to self-sufficiency in this crop without trade protection measures.
Genao, a reformist senator for the province of La Vega, also welcomed the Government's decision to include potatoes in the school breakfast distributed twice a week by the National Institute for Student Welfare (INABIE). He assured that this measure guarantees profitability for producers and ends the sector's crisis.
"The school breakfasts require 10,500 quintals of potatoes per day. That means 21,000 quintals per two days a week," the congressman stated. This public policy responds to an effective strategy promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture to support food self-sufficiency, he added.
Source: noticiassin.com