Within the framework of the Cooperation Plan with Africa (2016-2019), between 10 and 18 October, a delegation made up of officials of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Agri-industry, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), and representatives of the private agri-industrial sector visited South Africa, Botswana, and Mozambique.
The mission made progress on the development of technical cooperation projects in the fields of no-till farming and associated agricultural mechanization, a technological solution based on a strong national development effort and recognized throughout the world. The work agenda included visits to authorities, regional organizations, universities, technical-agricultural institutions and producer associations, with which different scenarios were analyzed in order to promote the increasing use of Argentine technology.
In the case of South Africa, Argentina’s no-till farming has been implemented since 2009 with excellent results: higher yield, lower emissions, production cost reduction and soil preservation. The mission renewed bilateral cooperation through two new projects managed by INTA: one is a continuation of the abovementioned cooperation in the field of agriculture, with the inclusion of the University of Pretoria and the Agricultural Research Council; and the other is a project on metagenomic biotechnology, carried out in association with the Genomics Research Institute.
In Botswana, an agreement was reached for designing and launching a new project that combines no-till farming technology with related livestock farming, based on the country’s production profile and the needs identified by the local Ministry of Agriculture.
In Mozambique, in turn, an agreement was made with the authorities to give a new boost to two projects on livestock farming and cotton production, as well as to jointly design three new projects on no-till farming for wheat crops, horticulture, and plant health.
The new projects —in line with the Sustainable Development Goals— will be financed by Argentina’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Fund and clearly reflect Argentina’s leadership in the field, as recently evidenced at the opening of the session of the FAO Committee on World Food Security.
Press Release No. 358/16
Press Office: 4819-7375 / 8296 / 7388
@CancilleriaARG
