2020-09-06 16:43 update: 2020-09-10, 11:42
Polish President Andrzej Duda. Photo PAP/Łukasz Gągulski
Polish President Andrzej Duda thanked the country's farmers for their hard work and for ensuring food security during the Annual Jasna Gora Harvest festival and Farmers' Pilgrimage, which he attended with Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski.
The president went on to say that Poles had had the opportunity to realise how important food security is during the coronavirus pandemic, thanking the farmers in the name of "the whole Polish nation and society," at the Jasna Gora shrine in Czestochowa, southern Poland
Duda pointed out that part of his function is to serve as the guardian of state security and that food security is a "one of the hugely important elements" of that. He recalled the images of empty shop shelves shown on television during the first few days of lockdown and the fears they engendered in society, adding that some people remember the days of shortage under communism, when there as nothing to buy.
"But it was you - your work, your hardship - you showed that those days have passed (...) Those shelves in shops that for a while were empty were instantly re-filled with food products. Food was not lacking even for a moment. We have it, and not only enough to satisfy our own needs, but we are in a position to ensure food for others," Duda said. "It's thanks to you that Poland is a great food exporter."
The president went on to say he would do everything to ensure the development of rural areas, with high-speed internet and all the other benefits of large cities, so that villages also have access to good education, culture, sports and recreation. (PAP)
