State Officials: Maryland Salvadorans should have front-row seats to growing green economy
BALTIMORE -- The Maryland Department of Agriculture and Maryland Department of Environment are banding together to find opportunities to help small-scale farmers market their products—particularly in collaboration with Salvadoran-American businesses in Maryland.
State officials announced their interest in assisting Maryland-based Salvadoran-American businesses following a recent trade mission to El Salvador.
"Our goal is to ensure that the more than 200,000 Salvadorans in Maryland have a front-row seat in the growing green economy," Maryland Department of Environment. "We saw firsthand how El Salvador is charging ahead to do this work, just like we are," Maryland Department of Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain said. "I look forward to the many opportunities we have to work together in the future."
While in El Salvador, McIlwain and Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks visited farmers in El Salvador who were struggling to produce culturally important red beans due to the pests moving into the area in part due to climate change, according to state officials.
Their delegation also visited coffee farmers to learn more about how they are rebuilding their operations in the aftermath of gang violence, state officials said.
Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Aruna Gov. Miller have made clear that they want to build a green economy that leaves no one behind, including the hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans in Maryland, according to state officials.
That green economy will be built, in part, upon the existing "Friendship Agreement" between El Salvador and the State of Maryland to advance economic growth and economic protection in both places, state officials said.
State officials noted that the country of El Salvador is a featured partner in the upcoming Maryland International Agriculture and Environment Conference in October.
