INTI continues to work together with the Argentine Movement for Organic Production.

INTI has been developing different activities to support regional organic production with the Argentine Movement for Organic Production (MAPO). In the framework of these works, more than 100 projects with potential and a set of needs for technical assistance and incorporation of technology have been surveyed, through regional workshops held throughout the country.

Based on this background, both institutions signed a specific technical assistance agreement on May 5, with the aim of advancing in the formulation and implementation of more than 30 projects identified as priorities based on their technical and economic feasibility, in the framework of the program that they have called “Added Value to Regional Organic Food Production”.

According to what was stated by Rubén Geneyro, President of INTI, “organic production has been growing at interannual rates of over 10% and already has more than 3.6 million certified hectares, which places our country as the second in surface under organic certification regime worldwide, behind Australia. In turn, global demand for organic products continues to grow steadily – especially in the US and Europe – and total sales currently exceed USD 100 billion. This initiative is part of the FAO recommendations for agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the sense of strengthening regional value chains to take advantage of these consumption trends in developed countries and thus generate foreign exchange and quality employment. “

The planning horizon of this second stage of work is six months and has the objective of generating added value in regional organic production based on the incorporation of technology and good practices; product scaling at the industrial level; the generation of pilot productions for use as samples and export items; and the implementation of quality and differentiation systems according to the demand of the target markets; as well as the provision of technological assistance for the improvement of processes and products by INTI.

As an example, among the projects to be developed within the framework of the joint work program between INTI and MAPO are the following:

• Organic balanced food for the aquaculture industry based on by-products of organic production (Bariloche, Río Negro);
• Organic juices and nectars of fine mountain fruits made in an inclusive plant (San Martín de los Andes, Neuquén);
• Gluten-free and organic flours (Tandil, Buenos Aires);
• High altitude organic wines (Quebrada de Humahuaca, Jujuy);
• Improving the quality of organic spices for export (Salta);
• Generation of value-added products based on organic quinoa (Puna salteña and jujeña);
• Development of an electronic vaporization equipment for the application of bio-inputs in the packaging line of fresh organic blueberries (Funes, Santa Fe);
• Optimization and improvement of the process of bottling, closing and labeling of organic wine (San Javier, Córdoba);
• Value generation in food production processes with Stevia Rebaudiana and derivatives (Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Ríos);
• Associative project for the optimization of processes in the elaboration of organic sweets (Villa de Soto, Córdoba);
• Incorporation of robotics to the process of industrialization of organic rice (San Salvador, Entre Ríos);
• Pilot plant for the development of ready-to-drink beverages based on tea and yerba mate (Campo Viera, Misiones);
• Development of new inputs for the substitution of NaOH in the elaboration of fermented green olives (La Rioja and Mendoza);
• Development of a line for the extraction of essential aromatic oils (Tupungato, Mendoza).

Source: INTI