The project will bring innovative technology to the Peruvian Amazon
PRESS RELEASE
Mayo, 2022
Tarapoto, San Martin Region: The Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Universities of Oklahoma (OU), Utah State (USU), Purdue and the Bioversity International Alliance and CIAT, presented the PERU-Hub project, aimed at improving the economy of farmers in the Huallaga Valley, through the creation of a center for the generation and extension of innovative technologies to promote sustainable development in the region. This project will work using the results of research and innovations carried out by universities and private and state research centers of national and international prestige. In addition, they will contribute their experiences gained in the agricultural community.
During his presentation, Dr. Américo Guevara, Rector of the UNALM said: “One of the expected results of the PERU-Hub project is that farmers, women and native communities add value to their products and thus enter foreign markets”.
Dr. Hugo Villachica, director of PERU-Hub, was in charge of the presentation of the project. During his presentation he said: “PERU-Hub will seek to train farmers, women and indigenous communities in the use of improved technologies for current and new crops, food processing, market access and marketing, improving agricultural productivity and profitability with sustainable resource management”.
The PERU-Hub project contemplates the creation of a Technology Center (Hub) at the Pucayacu Experimental Farm, headquarters of the IRD (Regional Development Institute) in Tarapoto, which will serve as a model for the transfer and use of advanced technologies in the areas of agricultural production, integrated production systems, post-harvest management and food processing, capacity building, extension and entrepreneurship. PERU-Hub incorporates participatory action approaches, value chains and entrepreneurship in its activities. To this end, it has established cooperation agreements with non-governmental research centers (ICT), local universities, research centers (INIA, IIAP), private companies, cooperatives and farmers’ associations in the upper, middle and lower Central Huallaga.
PERU-Hub is projected as a global model for the use of research results for education and knowledge creation in the Amazon region, consolidating the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina as a reference for innovation and education in the agricultural sector of our country.
