Agriculture Begins to Bear Fruit for Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN – Rep. César Hernández Alfonzo, who represents district 15, comprising Hatillo, Camuy and Quebradillas, presented Thursday what he called new conquests that will aid the local agricultural industry and thus the economic development of Puerto Rico.

Hernández Alfonzo said that “besides the exponential increase – from 25% to over 65% – in local products in the food served to our students through the School Lunch Program, the increase in the planting of corn, sorghum, vegetables and many others, and having the agricultural sector surpass $1 billion in the gross internal product, our efforts continue focused on maintaining and increasing the development of the agricultural sector through all the resources we have at hand or can acquire to achieve this.”

As an example of these efforts, Hernández Alfonzo mentioned two agreements with the U.S. Agriculture Department that were announced by him and House Speaker Jaime R. Perelló Borrás, alongside the Puerto Rico Agriculture Secretary Myrna Comas, USDA Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Dr. Joe Leonard, and a group of local farmers.

Hernández Alfonzo said that the agreements are the results of many meetings and visits to USDA offices in Washington, D.C., and that they are already bearing fruit, such as the case of local citrus producers who had their first meeting and presented their proposal to the USDA to expand their operations, “thus create more jobs in the local agricultural sector.”

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