The Regional Center for Studies in Healthy Foods, CREAS, and the Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP) of Valparaíso, a service dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture that seeks to promote the economic, social and technological development of small agricultural producers, recently signed an agreement collaboration.
Both institutions are currently collaborating in a series of activities related to projects executed by the CREAS Center of the PUCV, which support entrepreneurs who belong to peasant family farming (AFC), such as the “Valpo: Food Entrepreneurship” program. and the Linkage program between the food agroindustry and the AFC through D&I in food products, especially focused on the communes of San Felipe and Petorca.
In the signed agreement, both parties commit to establishing mutual support to promote the inclusive, sustainable and resilient development of forestry and agricultural activities, promoting the development of new capacities in small farmers and their organizations through training provided by professionals from the CREAS Center.
“CREAS has a work that it has developed for years with our users and we have realized that we have objectives that are intertwined,” explained Sergio Valladares, director of INDAP Valparaíso.
“There are countless things that we can develop based on adding value and developing new products, which is what CREAS has always made available to our users and to us as an institution, so we are very happy to be able to do that work together”added the authority.
For its part, María Elvira Zúñiga, director of CREAS, assured that this agreement means “It is a gift to work with INDAP, because it brings us closer to farmers in the interior sectors of the Valparaíso region, especially communities that are difficult to access.”
Finally, he assured that the agreement would be beneficial to be able to support those who wish to undertake and innovate with the support and guidance of a Center of excellence in food issues such as CREAS.
