Santo Domingo.– The presidential election war of words is heating up as Miguel Vargas Maldonado, presidential candidate for the Dominican Revolutionary Party, criticized president Leonal Fernandez, stating that he has done nothing during his current term of office to aid the agricultural community, which Vargas claims is sinking into a serious crisis.

Vargas stated that, if elected, his party would offer incentives for modernization of the agricultural industry. Vargas, speaking in Santiago, stated that in a world of advanced technology it is time to apply such advances into the farming communities, which have become stagnant and still applying old world techniques.

Another issue on which Vargas also criticized Fernandez was in his handling of the recent outbreak of bird flu, resulting in increased tensions on the Dominican Republic-Haiti border, where poultry products were turned back by Haiti.

Vargas is attempting to gain votes from the agricultural community and has finished a three-day visit to the Santiago area where he met with various leaders of the farming sector and included a visit to the National Cattle Fair.