The Minister of Rural Development and Land, Cesar Cocarico, stated on Thursday that he would develop a strategy to increase the country's apple production and halt imports from Chile.
"We must have an apple production strategy so that we can stop importing from Chile," he told reporters.
He said that, 10 years ago, the country imported grapes from Chile, but that domestic production had been successfully promoted in recent years and that they had stopped buying Chilean grapes.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Defense, Reymi Ferreira, posted on his personal Facebook account a message urging Bolivians not to consume Chilean products because they are contraband. This followed the arrest of two military and seven Bolivian custom officers in the border area.
Cocarico said that one of the country's policy's was to encourage the consumption of domestic products.
"It's not an act of revenge, it's an act of national dignity. We have always urged our people to consume Bolivian products and we will always do it because we have to support the national industry and our domestic production," he said.
He also said they needed to reactivate the fruit program to encourage the production of apple and other fruits to ensure domestic consumption and promote exports, as Bolivia exports bananas and pineapples, among other fruits.
"We are now looking for funding for the fruit program to address the deficiencies we have in the production of apples," he said.
Source: paginasiete.bo