The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries wants to focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to fight hunger in the country.

To this end, Roberto Albino says that the private sector needs to be empowered, given the resources and independence to produce enough to meet demand.

"We'd like to make it clear that our entire focus will be on boosting the private sector. We want to stimulate an approach to growth based on demand, so that micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs are at the forefront of the process and can grow in a sustainable way," he said, quoted in "O País".

The minister, who was speaking on Monday during the swearing-in of new members of the Advisory Council, also said that the country should stop relying on foreign aid and start betting seriously on local production.

"The way of waiting only for subsidies or foreign direct investment has proved increasingly unsustainable. We are wasting time by leaving our progress for later. We must invest in the national private sector, providing it with an attractive and secure business environment, facilitating its operation without barriers," he said.

He advocated hard work in order to respond to the needs of the population.

"People expect more and more access to food from us, not civic excuses and postponements. Only with hard work, appropriate institutional policies and interventions in rural and urban development can we ensure ever-increasing access to food for our population.

We also need to guarantee the supply of raw materials to our industry, as a determining sector of our agricultural and fishing sector," he concluded.