On an outreach visit with Free Press Group, The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Maynor Estuardo Estrada Rosales, announced that the current administration of the Vice Ministry of Agricultural Health and Regulations (Visar) “has the task” of reducing processes by 50%.
The official commented that the previous administration managed to go from 150 to 100 stages in the processes of the recently reestablished Visar and gave details of what happened when this Vice Ministry changed its name along with other agencies, in September of last year.
He explained that the head of the Vice Ministry of Agricultural Health and Regulations, Marissa Eugenia Montepeque Sierra, has the challenge of facilitating the processes with simple, clear, defined procedures, with traceability, and that the user knows the progress of their process “removing any type of interference by a public official on a certain action.”
This has to be executed through intelligent platforms, however, he acknowledged that they are working on that capacity to offer online procedures. Therefore, they strengthen “particularly the cybersecurity terms where they still have opportunities for improvement.”
Visar reactivation
At the time, the minister informed Prensa Libre that “there was not going to be a Vice Ministry of Livestock” and that the original names would be returned, which was the change established in Government Agreement 217-2023, of the previous administration.
This Agreement was reformed, signed in the Council of Ministers and published on Thursday, February 15 in the official gazette and came into force one day following publication. The regulations repealed articles 1, 2 and 4 of Government Agreement 217-2023, thus reestablishing Visar which, among other functions, regulates the private sector.
Estrada commented that with Government Agreement 217-2023 with which a new Vice Ministry of Livestock had been created and the names of 4 Vice Ministries had been changed, the previous administration “was preparing the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) to implement a new Internal Organic Regulation (ROI)”.
“Fortunately, the Government Agreement of the new Internal Organic Regulations, which defines the structure and general functions of the Ministry and the specific functions of the intervention bodies, did not occur and did not come out,” he indicated.
The current head of the MAGA was part of the transition process in which they received several blue boxes with information, there they found a proposal for a new ROI where the Visar was lowered from the Vice Ministry to a unit dependent on the ministerial office.
The official shared that with the support of international cooperation, they hired a consulting firm that analyzed the proposal for the new ROI, contrasting it with Government Agreement 338-2010, which is the ROI that currently governs, and they found “fatal inconsistencies and misrepresentations.”
As for Visar, they took away its function of having interference in international agreements, this being one of the general functions of that Vice Ministry.
Benefits
Meanwhile, union and business entities in the country, through a statement, recognized the importance of the reestablishment of the Vice Ministry of Agricultural Health and Regulations (Visar), stating that “it is a vital step to strengthen the institutions and leadership of MAGA in the management of agricultural and regulatory health in Guatemala.
In addition, they listed a series of benefits for the entire value chain, from producers to consumers:
- Strengthening surveillance and control of diseases and pests.
- Improves the safety of agricultural products.
- Increase in the competitiveness of the sector in international markets.
- Protection of national agricultural heritage.
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