Víctor Catán said the cuts will put country’s plants and animals at risk
The president of the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile, Fedefruta, Víctor Catán, has condemned a proposed budget cut of over US$4.3mn to the country’s Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG).
“We find it incomprehensible that the Agricultural and Livestock Service is subject to a budget cut, since this does not fit with reality, it does not fit with the complexity that our country has today,” he said, noting that “today a number of products enter through authorised border crossings and illegal border crossings that put our phytosanitary and zoosanitary heritage at risk.”
Catán added: “we believe that the SAG budget should be increased, it should be strengthened and the service should also be subject to planning, to modernisation for current needs”.
He called on the Government “not to abandon fruit growing or agriculture in Chile, as they are an important source of support for the country”.
