SANTIAGO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The government is working to confront the drought in part of the country as well as the snowfall affecting agricultural areas, Chilean minister of agriculture said on Saturday.
Chile's agriculture is "very powerful and diverse," Esteban Valenzuela told local station Radio Cooperativa, noting "there has been no shortage of production."
Valenzuela made the remarks after detailing measures adopted to guarantee access to food amid global crisis.
A series of initiatives that aim to safeguard the logistics and availability of food for the country in the short and medium term was announced by the National Commission for Food Security and Sovereignty.
Among them are the declaration of an agricultural emergency at the national level, the distribution of fertilizers to more than 70,000 small farms, access to financing for farmers, a project to distribute water for irrigation.
The creation of 70 new food microbanks to avoid food waste was also included in the national plan.
With more than 75 percent of its territory affected by drought, Chile has experienced more than 13 years of water scarcity, and farms in the country have had to reduce their planting areas to maintain the quality and price of their produce, much of which is grown for export. ■
