Members of the Peasant Reserve Zone El Rabanal Sanctuary strengthen their agricultural innovation knowledge during a field day at the Tibaitatá Research Center

• AGROSAVIA welcomed the leaders from the Peasant Reserve Zone El Rabanal Sanctuary to strengthen alliances and make progress on the sustainable development of rural Boyacá.

 

Mosquera, Cundinamarca. April 28, 2025. Through a technical and social exchange event, representatives from the Peasant Reserve Zone (PRZ) El Rabanal Sanctuary, including the municipalities of Samacá and Ventaquemada in Boyacá, participated in a comprehensive field day at AGROSAVIA's Tibaitatá Research Center in mid-April. The event planted new seeds of knowledge and collaboration for the future as part of its Sustainable Development Plan (SDP).

During the field day, the farmers visited different areas of the Research Center, including laboratories, the beekeeping, aeroponics, and silvopastoral modules, and the potato seed banks, where AGROSAVIA's technical staff shared scientific and technological advances directly with participants applicable to sustainable agricultural production.

Karol Natalia Rodríguez Castellanos, PRZ representative before the Agrarian Reform Municipal Committee, stated, "I thought the visit was very important. We who assisted are mostly women farmers; we are dedicated to working the land. Knowing all these areas was fundamental because knowledge is the foundation of any project." This woman leader also highlighted the potential of bringing these technologies to the territory: "It would be very good if AGROSAVIA visited us in Páramo de Rabanal, where there are many people with agricultural, livestock, poultry, and beekeeping projects who wish to become entrepreneurs, but who need access to knowledge."

The PRZ El Rabanal Sanctuary was formally established through Agreement No. 439 of December 19, 2024, issued by the Board of Directors of Agencia Nacional de Tierras [The National Land Agency], and comprises 7,877 hectares distributed across seven veredas (small suburban countryside districts), six in Samacá and one in Ventaquemada. Since its creation, AGROSAVIA has established a commitment to the region within the framework of its institutional mission.

Carlos Burgos, Innovation Coordinator at the Tunja campus, ascribed to AGROSAVIA's Tibaitatá Research Center, explained that the commitments include the exchange of experiences through platforms such as LINKATA and Biblioteca Agropecuaria Colombiana [Colombian Agricultural Library] (BAC mobile), the financing of socio-productive projects articulated with the PRZ's Sustainable Development Plan, and the opening of spaces for technical dialogue at the Corporation's headquarters.

Burgos indicated, "The next steps include a technical visit of our researchers to the area, with the goal of developing relevant projects in a participatory manner and connecting more users to our information systems to strengthen data-based decision-making."

In this way, AGROSAVIA reaffirms its commitment as a promoter of scientific knowledge based on the needs of the territory, supporting a thriving, organized, and technologically advanced rural environment where peasant knowledge and research intertwine to foster a more prosperous and sustainable future for the country's rural communities.