Texas A&M signs agricultural agreement with Santa Cruz, Bolivia
COLLEGE STATION — Several entities of The Texas A&M University System have signed a memorandum of agreement with the state of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to train Bolivian students in the latest agricultural technologies, according to officials.
The five-year agreement calls for collaborative research in agriculture, livestock and life sciences “to benefit the people of Santa Cruz, Bolivia and other developing countries across the globe.”
The state of Santa Cruz, one of nine in Bolivia, produces 70 percent of the food consumed in the country, according to Dr. Juan Landivar, a native of Bolivia and the director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Centers in Weslaco and Corpus Christi.
“Bolivian students who come to study agriculture in Texas will be selected from among the brightest minds in their country,” he said. “The agricultural research and technologies they learn here will be transferred to their homeland to help keep Santa Cruz the breadbasket of Bolivia.”
Landivar said the Bolivians will be trained in various disciplines, including plant improvement, plant breeding, crop systems, agricultural economics and agricultural engineering.
“This agreement opens the door for a tremendous amount of exchange of ideas and information that will benefit not just researchers but ultimately consumers, in both countries,” he said.
The governor of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, and the secretary general of the state, Roly Aguilera, were in College Station recently to sign the agreement with officials of several entities of the A&M System, including the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
“It was exciting to be in the room where the agreement was signed,” Landivar said. “We are very fortunate that the Bolivians chose Texas A&M as their collaborators. The A&M System, which is the premier agricultural research institute in the world, is well-positioned to help the world, not just Bolivia, feed itself.”
Landivar said the diversity of the Texas landscape is well-suited to help Bolivia.
“With our diverse climate, from the cold of the Amarillo area to the subtropical climate of South Texas, and from the rainy areas of East Texas to the desert-like conditions of West Texas, we can replicate almost any environment in Bolivia to do research,” he said.
Dr. Luis Ribera, an AgriLife Extension agricultural economist in College Station, said students from several Bolivian universities will be selected soon to study in Texas.
“The state of Santa Cruz is now in the process of raising private and public funds to send the brightest minds to earn graduate degrees from Texas A&M,” he said. “They are also in the process of selecting the students who will travel here.”
During the signing ceremony, Landivar described for the Bolivians the system of 13 AgriLife Research and Extension centers throughout the state that conduct research on local crops in their particular growing conditions.
“Each of our centers in Texas will benefit from the presence of these Bolivian students who will be here studying many crops grown in both countries, including soybeans, corn, grain sorghum, vegetables and forage crops for livestock.”
Depending on funding, the effort will start with 20-30 students from several Bolivian universities, Landivar said.
Other goals of the agreement include strengthening agricultural institutions and farmers in Bolivia by raising the competitiveness of agriculture, increasing productivity and lowering unit costs, modernizing agriculture with an emphasis on meeting demand and quality standards, and promoting higher education through academic scholarship.
