Shaping Leaders for the Countryside of Tomorrow: AGROSAVIA Empowers Rivera's Youth through Institución Educativa Nucleo Escuela Guadual

Florencia, Caquetá. October 7, 2025. At the educational institution "Institución Educativa Nucleo Escuela Guadual" in Rivera, Huila, the future of Colombia's rural sector is being shaped by young hands. Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria – AGROSAVIA, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through its "National Strategy for Rural Youth," joined efforts with the school's productive projects to strengthen its mission: to develop competencies in agricultural production and turn knowledge into the engine of regional development.

The initiative was built around two main pillars. Creating a Comprehensive Ecosystem for Training and Innovation: AGROSAVIA recognized the potential of the Educational Institution (EI) as a producer of certified cacao plant material registered with ICA. To maximize this advantage, technology was applied, and a fully modernized and upgraded detachable nursery was set up, with a metal structure and 65% shade mesh covering, not only to meet regulatory requirements but also to expand its productive capacity toward forestry and aromatic seedlings, thereby diversifying learning and entrepreneurship opportunities.

This productive component was further enhanced by the provision of equipment, materials, and supplies for the chocolate processing plant, boosting a prior initiative funded by resources from the General Royalties System (SGR, for its Spanish acronym). This comprehensive intervention, from primary nursery production to processing and commercialization, is synergistically linked with SENA's technological training program in chocolate-making, thereby creating a complete learning and entrepreneurship path for students, starting right from the classroom.

A Living Classroom: The Ecotourism Trail as a Pedagogical Tool: The second line of action transformed the school's natural surroundings into a powerful classroom. AGROSAVIA revitalized the ecotourism trail, a privileged area of biodiversity with native trees and water sources, turning it into a formal learning environment. In this process, interns from the Bachelor's Degree Program in Natural Sciences and Environmental Education at Universidad Surcolombiana collaborated by collecting data on the trail's flora and fauna and helping to define the ecotourism route.

This effort led to the creation of educational fact sheets on native species and the acquisition of equipment for biodiversity monitoring. This strengthening, also supported by Corporación Autónoma del Alto Magdalena (CAM), positions the trail not only as a natural heritage site but also as a space designed to promote educational ecotourism in Rivera, providing students with the opportunity to develop skills in environmental and tourism management.

In this way, AGROSAVIA did more than deliver infrastructure; it wove a value network around the school. By connecting the cocoa and ecotourism projects with strategic partners such as SENA, SGR, and CAM, the Corporation is ensuring that students from EI El Guadual not only view the countryside through a new lens but are also equipped with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities to become the next generation of agribusiness entrepreneurs and biodiversity guardians in their territory.

The Rural Youth Strategy does not impose technologies; instead, it integrates them with local knowledge and Productive Pedagogical Projects (PPP) prioritized by the educational community. It validates young people's knowledge and provides them with tools to enhance it.

The work of the AGROSAVIA team goes beyond the scope of an isolated intervention; it constitutes a model of integral transformation that addresses the structural causes of the generational gap in agriculture: the lack of sustainable economic opportunities, the disconnection between educational offerings and local realities, and the undervaluation of rural culture.

By generating these essential conditions, AGROSAVIA not only encourages youth to remain in their territories but also empowers them to become agents of change, driving the transition toward an innovative, prosperous, and environmentally sustainable rural sector. This example shows that success lies in the ability to actively listen to communities, convene and coordinate the various stakeholders in the sector, and deliver tangible tools that enable new generations to design, from their roots and identity, the future of the countryside they dream of.