Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ariel Bucardo of Nicaragua
already contributed 100 million dollars for the program.
Bucardo said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had already contributed 100 million dollars for the program.
Agriculture Minister Ariel Bucardo said the project would help 75,000 malnourished families, starting in the extremely poor Rio Coco region, close to the border with Honduras.
Under the new program, which Bucardo said would last five years and cost about $150 million, families will be given farm animals, seeds and tools.
livestock like pigs or production subsidies.
Nicaraguan Agriculture Minister Ariel Bucardo said the participating countries of Central America plus Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela and possibly several other Caribbean nations will seek to firm up an agreement to invest $600 million in the upcoming planting season, which will start with the first rains later this month.
Bucardo described the food security arrangement as a partnership between countries, and also between the public and private sectors.
Bucardo said that out of today's summit will come a special multi-national team to articulate regional production goals and policies.
Agriculture Minister Ariel Bucardo said he would push forward the program Zero Hunger, a government program which aims to help about 75,000 poor families to overcome poverty by providing livestock like pigs or production subsidies.
Agriculture Minister Ariel Bucardo said the government program Zero Hunger has given out 12,000 food production packages to campesina (female) heads of households over the last fifteen months in rural areas across the country.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ariel Bucardo said that thousands of hectares of forests have been devastated, as well as 143,274 hectares of rice, beans and maize, the staple foods of the Nicaraguan diet.
maize, the staple foods of the Nicaraguan diet.
Central America hopes to spend about $630 million to increase the region's food output, Nicaraguan Agriculture Minister Ariel Bucardo said this week.