Ambassador inaugurates agricultural program in Ilopango Lake
November 22, 2004

Ambassador H. Douglas Barclay, Acting Salvadoran President Elías Bahaia, vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Cálix and president of the Friends of the Lake association Ernesto Freund presided over the inauguration of the project "Ground Protection and Productive Diversification of Ilopango Lake basin".

The project will benefit more than 100 small producers of the zone with 875,000 dollars in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will provide technical support for the cultivation of nontraditional products like loroco, persian lemon, maracuyá, mango, avocado and níspero.

Another important component of the project is the aquaculture of tilapia fish in floating cages and the creation of live barriers of Vetiver grass to stop the erosion of the shores of the lake.