President aims to rehabilitate drought -stricken land
BY MAURILIO SOTO
The News
President Enrique Peña Nieto introduced Monday a National Rangeland Rehabilitation Program aimed at reclaiming drought-ravaged lands in the north of the country.
The rehabilitation efforts will cover 1.5 billion hectares of arid land, providing enough water for livestock in the states of Durango, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila and Zacatecas.
In the coming months, equipment will be delivered to the states of Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Querétaro and Sonora.
The president, speaking at the 78th General Assembly of the National Confederation of Livestock Organizationsin Zacatecas, Zacatecas, said the draught conditions in those states are holding back agribusiness, a major sector of the national economy.
He said the 300,000 structures being built will collect 7.06 million cubic feet of water each.
The government is also allocating 312 million pesos, in the form of insurance, to rangelands, which will insure more than 80,000 producers and protect 4.65 million head of cattle.
Mexico is the world’s seventh largest meat producer, said the president, whose government will invest 120 million pesos to ensure the genetic quality of high value livestock, through the DNA Testing Program.
“Specific action is being taken, through policies and programs, to give fresh impetus to the livestock business in this country,” the president said. “This reaffirms the commitment of the government to support the livestock, fields and fisheries of our country.” This will in turn strengthen the income and productivity of the 6.6 million who work in these industries.
After reaffirming the government’s commitment to “detonating the potential” of the Mexican countryside, the president imparted that this particular sector, which is central to the national economy, grew by 5 percent the first TWO months of 2014.
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