President Uribe opened a Starch Plant in the Sucre department and said that rural areas must be benefited from industrialization. The project, located in Corozal, is thought to develop the plantations of yucca in the rural department and generate employment in the area.
Photo Presidencia de la República
The department of Sucre, at the northwest of Colombia, is a region mostly dedicated to agriculture and cattle, but still one of the poorest regions of Colombia. Sucre, which capital is Sincelejo, is located in the Córdoba and Sucre Savannah with coast over the Caribbean Sea. Both departments were at the center of battles between paramilitary groups and guerrillas along the years.
The president lead a communitarian meeting in the municipality of Colosó and said that there is a great possibility for the farmers to grow yucca and generate employment. He said also that the investment in the project was of 20 thousand million pesos with the support of the Fund for the Finance of the Agriculture Sector (Finagro).
The government planned to open an Alcohol Plant, but the researches showed that it was not possible because Colombia has a big production of sugar canes and African palm. The industrialization of yucca was the best alternative, said the president in the meeting with personalities of the region and farmer associations. He suggested that the Starch Plant must have as partners the same farmers. In such sense, the farmers will have shares in the company.
President Uribe pointed out also that Colombia must work in the full industrialization of milk as well:
‘Eso es un caso aparte. Este país está produciendo hoy 18 millones 160 mil litros de leche al día y solamente industrializa 8. Ese es un problema muy grave’
‘This is another case. This country is producing today 18 million 160 thousand liters of milk per day and only 8 liters are industrialized. This is a serious problem,’ said the president.
Uribe announced that the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and the trade unions will have as a goal the full industrialization of milk.
Security in the region
President Uribe said also in his communitarian meeting in Colosó that the authorities will work to break the criminal gangs that operate in the Sucre Department.
‘Se ha hecho bastante en la seguridad, no hay duda. Pero todavía tenemos un problema grave, en la región, de bandas criminales. Aquí hemos avanzado mucho, pero hay que desarticular totalmente lo de las bandas criminales’
‘Much has been done in security, no doubt. But still we have a serious problem, in the region, of criminal gangs. Here we have improved very much, but it is needed to break totally the criminal gangs.’
The president mentioned that Sucre suffered the presence of guerrillas, paramilitary groups and drug dealers years ago. Recently, the authorities captured some leaders of criminal gangs in the region formed by the departments of Córdoba and Sucre.