“One of the pillars of our public policy is to advance in the conversion to sustainable production systems. It is a need for the country and the planet and today they have shown us how with research it is possible to do sustainable work in agriculture. Faced with such a large gap in knowledge, we have to worry and take care so that all this reaches the territories”.
With this message, the Vice Minister of Agricultural Affairs, Luis Alberto Villegas Prado, highlighted the efforts of the Colombian sugarcane agroindustry, through the investigation carried out by Cenicaña and its articulation with entities such as Agrosavia and Fedepanela, to expand the scope of technologies and developments to the panela subsector.
During a visit to the Cenicaña Experimental Station, located in the township of San Antonio de los Caballeros, in Florida, Valle, the Vice Minister had the opportunity to learn about the results of the cooperation agreements signed with Agrosavia to support the panela sector, especially with delivery of Cenicaña Colombia (CC) cane varieties and support for sanitary management.
Likewise, some advances in research and developments for a more sustainable management of the crop and the possibilities of diversification of the agro-industry were socialized, from other uses for bioethanol, to the use of the different by-products of the production chain, in the generation of biofuels. and bioproducts.
Agrosavia and Fedepanela, for their part, also shared their technology transfer experiences with the panela sector, and Asocaña presented the bases of a project that is in the formulation phase to combine technical, administrative, and financial efforts to strengthen the production of small-scale cane. producers and improve the quality of panela in sugar mills in Valle del Cauca and Cauca.