Jose Mujica addressed the participants of the 12th Meeting on Family Agriculture (REAF), carried out in Montevideo in the framework of the Summit of Presidents of MERCOSUR, only a few days after being elected President of the country for the period between 2010 and 2015, as the representative of Frente Amplio party.

The REAF, in which family producers, non governmental organizations and authorities from the governments of Mercosur and other countries participated, discussed issues such as food trade, land, gender and youth.

Mujica reached the Presidency after being Minister of Livestock, Farming and Fisheries between 2005-2008. In that period, the concept of family producer was defined for the first time, with the goal of implementing differentiated policies.

80 per cent of the Uruguayan rural producers are family producers.

The expansion of GM soy and the forestry sector, which comprises one million hectares, one mega pulp mill plant and several million-dollar investments –, has displaced thousands of families from the countryside, and has concentrated the use of the natural resources of the country.