The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Equality, Minciencias, and AGROSAVIA respond to the needs of coconut and peach palm (chontaduro) producers by strengthening the El Mira Research Center in the Pacific

Bogota, Capital District. February 2, 2024. As a result of “el Gobierno con el Pueblo” [the Government with the People], which took place last week in the Colombian Pacific and which mobilized the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro Urrego, the Vice President, Francia Márquez, her ministers, and a good part of the local and regional actors to listen to the needs of the communities of Nariño, Cauca and Chocó, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Equality, Minciencias and AGROSAVIA announce that they will specialize the El Mira Research Center located in Tumaco, to strengthen production systems in palm trees, mainly coconut and peach palm (chontaduro).

This will improve the capacities of AGROSAVIA and the El Mira Research Center in infrastructure, laboratories, human talent, research, knowledge supply, and technology transfer, always with an agroecological approach, and hand in hand with other local actors and participating communities of these productive systems in the region.

Thanks to this, phytosanitary problems, agronomic crop management, harvest and postharvest issues, and strengthening production can be better addressed.

The El Mira Research Center (C.I.) is part of the 13 nationwide research centers of AGROSAVIA, a Corporation that for 30 years has been sustainably transforming the Colombian agricultural sector with the power of knowledge.

The El Mira Research Center serves the Colombian biogeographic Pacific. Its area of influence in the Department of Nariño includes from the alluvial plains to the foothills and the coastal areas of the Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Chocó departments. In coordination with local actors, mainly Afro-descendants and indigenous populations, it contributes to the technical change to improve the productivity, competitiveness, and sustainability of the agricultural sector in the region.