The task is not to continue losing cultivable land ...

The task is not to continue losing arable land ...

19/10/2015

There is no scientific study to support it, but several authorized voices, in different forums or seminars, affirm that the soils of the central zone of Chile are among the most fertile in the world.

But the lack of regulation, economic interests, and the power of real estate companies, have turned large areas of agricultural land into areas of high housing density.

This situation not only affects the considerable depletion of arable agricultural land, but also causes a great environmental impact due to contamination by garbage waste, water use, vehicular traffic and a number of effects product of human habitability.

This situation worries the authorities because it is opposed to the strategic interests designed for Chile in the coming years, and which go on to turn it into an agro-food power.

New regulations are being considered for this situation and bills are being processed to protect the soils suitable for agricultural cultivation.

Chile bases its national budget on the exploitation of large-scale mining, mainly copper, and the reality is that this economic sector is showing signs that the cycle is coming to an end and its exploitation is becoming more expensive as it is necessary to go to look for the mineral at greater depths and the one that is found there is of less law, of less quality, for what the authorities and the experts in general have turned their horizon to agriculture, as the economic item to develop industrially so that become the future salary of Chile.

The call is to turn the country into an agri-food power and focus on the agricultural crop and its derivatives the strategic activity of generating foreign exchange for the country.

New stage of development

Even this is already past and there is talk of moving to a higher stage of development in this field.

Bárbara Gutiérrez, vice president of the Foundation of Communication, Training and Culture of Agro, FUCOA, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, Minagri, ensures that "The title 'Chile: agroalimentary power' is coming to an end, and we must now move to a higher stage of development".

The executive of FUCOA, in an interview with Blueberrieschile.cl, says that great announcements are coming for the 2016-2017 cycle and this is because the agri-food field has already internalized the development objective, in the sense of becoming an agri-food power , what comes then is to develop added value, product of innovation, science and technology applied to crops, he emphasizes.

For these objectives, then all fields must be prepared: technology transfer, science application, economic promotion and public policies, among others. So a new regulation regarding land use will serve to reverse the accelerated loss of arable land by urban construction and thus also protect ecosystems and the environment.

Source: Blueberriesconsulting.com - Martín Carrillo O.