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And I appreciate that tonight, we are debating on agriculture...
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Because for me, agriculture is a segment on our economy...
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Is a segment of the future, not past ...
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[De Colores - Ismael Rivera]
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Many people do not know where their food comes from ...
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They go to "Walmart", to "Amigo", to the supermarket and look at the fruit ...
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look at the product...
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then buy it and do not know where it came from ...
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and that makes it difficult...
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for them to identify directly with the support of the local products ...
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the community should support ...
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and seek government support for local agriculture ...
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Well, we can not provide ourselves with our own local food ...
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we have to import it ...
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and the importer does... because we provide them with the space for it...
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and once the importer is established, then to try to replace them...
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Well, we have not been effective ...
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[Yo soy del campo - Ismael Rivera]
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Before, everything was mostly from here ...
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But now, nobody wants to grow, no one wants to produce, nobody wants to do anything ...
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I'm commitment with the farmers' association ...
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here's the president of the organization, Mr José Ramon Gonzalez...
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on a project, for this upcoming quadrennium...
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of 500 million dollars, not for the bureaucracy in San Juan ...
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but to give aid to farmers who are mostly in need ...
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to make sure that we begin to replace much of the imports that we are bringing here ...
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For example, the allocation of funds given to the Department of Agriculture ...
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in the last ten years...
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which has been declining...
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shows the lack of commitment ...
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that the government has ...
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without pointing specifically to anyone...
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And that makes us be in very difficult situation ...
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if we study a situation like a pandemia ...
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Puerto Rico would have about ...
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six to seven days of food available for consumption by the inhabitants ...
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[Zamba para no morir - Mercedes Sosa]
