The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, and the Minister of Agriculture of Chile, Esteban Valenzuela, announced today their willingness to cooperate on agri-food issues of common interest. In a bilateral meeting, they agreed that it is necessary to achieve agriculture that is more resilient to climate change, with more efficient irrigation that helps produce less natural resources, in a way that ensures food security.
This meeting is part of the official visit made by Luis Planas in Santiago de Chile, where he is with Minister Valenzuela in the “Ministerial Conference on Low Emission Food Systems”, which will take place on April 13 and 14, with the motto “Resolving the challenge to reduce agricultural methane.”
Minister Plas explained to his Chilean counterpart the measures and investments made by the Spanish Government to modernize irrigation in our country, especially through the use of new technologies in irrigation systems. The minister informed his Chilean counterpart that Spain was the first country in the irrigated area of ​​the European Union and the first country in the world in the localized irrigated area.
For his part, Minister Valenzuela showed interest in the development of Spain’s food chain law as an instrument to provide greater transparency in the relationships between the various links that make it up, as well as the development of European regulation of new ggenetics editing techniques used in food and their role in guaranteeing food security in the context of the climate crisis.
The two talked about the value of numbers of different quality to give more added value to agri-food products, because it helps to differentiate and promote them. Planas emphasized that these figures offer more opportunities for social and economic development in rural territories.
After this meeting, the minister held a meeting with representatives of a dozen Spanish companies in the agri-food sector located in Chile. With data from 2022, Spanish exports to Chile have a value of 211 million euros, where pork stands out, with 23.82 million euros. Meanwhile, the value of imports of Chilean agri-food products is around 434 million euros.
Afterward, Luis Planas met with the deputy director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Helena Semedo, where he reiterated Spain’s collaboration to improve food availability by promoting sustainable food systems.
To this end, he pointed out that our country is working to improve water management in agriculture, promote generational change and social and territorial integration in rural areas, and improve the efficiency and diversification of the use of fertilizers.
In fisheries matters, Planas highlighted Spain’s support for various FAO initiatives for the sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources, as in the case of the “blue change” initiative.
