Peruvian Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry currently analyzes financial and tax incentives to promote private investment in afforestation and reforestation, Minister Jose Hernandez announced today.
In this sense, the Ministry will take an important step next week as he meets with private investors willing to invest US$1 billion in reforestation and afforestation of Peruvian rainforests over the next five years.
“We cannot continue to lose 150,000 hectares to illegal mining and slash-and-burn agriculture every year. Thus, we have taken on the challenge to afforest and reforest two million hectares,” Hernandez pointed out.
Changing grass
On the other hand, the government official referred to the Ministry’s recently-created General Livestock Management Section. Said department, he said, will promote the transition from natural to grown grass to bolster livestock development.
“We can have more livestock per hectare and more milk — which is later processed into cheese — by simply changing the grass,” he explained.
Young producers
Hernandez also addressed the need to get more young people involved in agricultural field work, as more than half of producers are over 50 years old.
To this end, the government has signed agreements with nine universities as part of AgroJoven program (internships for university senior students), and now more institutions and students are interested in joining the initiative.
Remarks were made during the First National Agricultural Meeting, a gathering of all Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry levels and the country’s 25 regional agricultural offices to articulate and unify efforts in the sector.
(END) MMG/JJN/DHT/RMB
Published: 12/6/2016