In the Vega Central offices of Santiago de Chile, it was the scene where the president of BancoEstado, Humberto Sichel, together with the Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, announced the initiative to offer small and medium-sized farmers state financing for develop technical irrigation projects for their crops.

The Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker highlighted this agreement between BancoEstado and the National Irrigation Commission (CNR) and stated that this will make it possible to increase efficiency levels in the use of water, explaining that currently only one third of the irrigated area of The crops have technified irrigation systems, so this news is a great contribution to the development of Chilean agriculture.

Everything is water

"Today, BancoEstado opens its doors to us and makes this long-term and very beneficial loan available to us, with which we will be able to accelerate the process of modernizing irrigation in Chilean agriculture," commented the minister, adding that "we had never had a loan of these characteristics to make the irrigation of Chilean agriculture more technical and to be able to have food for Chile and the Chileans ”, he assured.

The minister confessed that choosing the Vega Central facilities was not an accident, but was a signal to the public to remind them that the use of water in agriculture is to produce food. "Everything that is sold here, celery, lettuce, fruit, everything is mainly water, and is produced by agricultural activity," he emphasized.

A partner 

The president of BancoEstado stressed that “with this agreement we simplify the life of farmers, particularly that of the small ones, who do not have the money to make the investment and that the State awarded them a subsidy to carry it out. In addition, they need a Bank that urgently lends them the money in the most expeditious and easy way, at the most economical rate possible, and we will do that, "he promised, adding that" for those farmers who are applying for a subsidy before the National Irrigation Commission, the Bank wants to be a partner of them from now on and lend the resources to make the investment, "he said.

Training

For his part, Federico Errázuriz, executive of the National Irrigation Commission, affirmed that this will overcome one of the most important challenges that the Irrigation Law has, in terms of financing works for small and medium-sized farmers. "This agreement will offer a credit that we have never seen so advantageous for farmers who produce all these wonders of fruits and vegetables that we are seeing in La Vega," he said, and commented that for better access they will carry out regional training activities, where They will address legal, technical or financial issues, aimed at interest groups made up of producers, agricultural companies, water communities, consultants and contractor companies, among others.

The minister's legacy

“The great legacy that the Ministry of Agriculture is going to leave will be the modernization of irrigation in Chilean agriculture. Every day we have less water and we have to make good use of the available water we have. How? Incorporating technology, incorporating technical irrigation, telemetry, flow meters, covering canals, building dams. That is the importance of water in agriculture and that is the importance of modernized irrigation ”, Minister Antonio Walker concluded.

Participate in the Webinar Irrigation in blueberries connect from anywhere in the world to the link:

Further information:  contact@blueberriesconsulting.com / contact@agriculturalseminars.com or contact us at +56 (9)3469 3871