Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina presided over the first session of the PERU-Hub Advisory Committee

The first session of the PERU-Hub Advisory Committee, a body that will provide strategic guidance to the executive management of the project, was held in the historic Graduate Hall of Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM).

Dr. Américo Guevara Pérez, Rector of the UNALM and President of the PERU-Hub Advisory Committee, welcomed the members who were invited to contribute their knowledge and experience to the development of the project.

I am sure that the synergy between professionalism and the exchange of experiences will be vital for the development of future sessions, reaching conclusions that will lead us to a successful conclusion, and that will allow PERU-Hub to be a long term project for the benefit of our Amazon".

The members of the advisory committee are prominent professionals with extensive experience in activities related to agribusiness, technology, research, environment and education.

The members attending the first session were: Dr. Américo Guevara Pérez, rector of the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (Chairman of the committee), Dr. Héctor Gonzales Mora, academic vice rector of the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Mr. Walter Grundel Jiménez, regional governor of San Martín, Eng. Estuardo Masías, general director of La Calera and Eng. Pedro Injante Silva, general director of the Directorate of Agricultural Technological Development (DTA) of INIA, who attended on behalf of Jorge Juan José Ganoza, head of INIA.

In addition, the event was attended by observers: Hugo Villachica León Ph.D, director of PERU-Hub, Siena Fleischer and Carol Zurawski from USAID Washington and Maria Paz Montoya from USAID Peru.

During the ceremony, Dr. Villachica, director of PERU-Hub, presented the objectives and strategies of the project, the work carried out by the components in the second year of implementation, as well as the short, medium and long term vision of the production of the selected alternative crops. Such as soursop, passion fruit, cinnamon, fine aroma cacao, vanilla, camu camu, macadamia, which are in the experimental plant nursery of the IRD Pucayacu Estate, PERU-Hub’s center of operations in San Martin.

Dr. Villachica also mentioned the implementation of the First Food Plant, an initiative executed and financed with resources from Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM), which will operate in the Pucayacu Estate for the benefit of farmers and small entrepreneurs in the region.

"Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina will build a food processing plant, where PERU-Hub will have two processing lines: dairy and fruit. This plant will help us with the development of new processes and products".

USAID Washington’s main representative, Siena Fleischer, also took the opportunity to congratulate the director and the PERU-Hub team for the progress presented. She also greeted the committee members for their participation and commitment to the project.

"It is so important to see every year, how there are tangible results and how we see that the original vision we have created together with many hands, time and effort is being implemented."

Finally, Estuardo Masías Málaga, La Calera’s CEO director, expressed his full willingness to continue participating in these sessions.

"Count on me to represent the business side that will put its feet on the ground and bring constructive ideas for the development of PERU-Hub in the San Martin region."

Among the duties of the PERU-Hub Advisory Committee are: to support high-level coordination for the development of the project, as well as to promote the participation of stakeholders and to promote the funding of future activities.