Presidency of the Nation National Campaigns The 2021 edition of the Business School for Food SMEs began

On behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Nation, Luis Basterra, the Secretary of Food, Food, Bioeconomy and Regional Development, Marcelo Alós, inaugurated today, from the Buenos Aires town of Pilar, a new edition of the Business School Program for Food SMEs, in order to provide business management support for the competitiveness, profitability and sustainability of enterprises.

“All the actions we carry out are based on respect for autonomy, we thank the authorities of the 9 provinces that participate in this opportunity of this Program that began in a pilot test in San Juan. We have valued it again, last year we had some 300 SMEs participating in the middle of the pandemic, and today we have almost 400," said Alós. And he continued: "This program gives us great satisfaction, we hope that all the participating SMEs obtain the results that we have been having."

The opening also had the participation of the Agrarian Development Minister of the Province of Buenos Aires, host venue for this first meeting, Javier Rodríguez, who expressed: “The Program seems very important to me, the general view on food production , the challenge of transforming primary production into industrial production, hence the accompaniment. We need local and regional development. That is why we celebrate that they are intended for SMEs, which are going to be protagonists of the recovery that is taking place", while greeting the more than twenty Buenos Aires SMEs that are participating in this opportunity.

In the same direction, the mayor of the municipality of Pilar, Federico Achaval, said: “I want to thank Secretary Alós and Minister Rodríguez for having chosen Pilar for the launch. One is doubly glad to be a headquarters, when he sees that it is a federal Program. Pilar is the cradle of federalism, it is the place where the Pilar Treaty was signed, which is one of the pillars of our National Constitution”.

Since this initiative began in 2014, more than 1,079 companies have already participated, in 36 offices in 20 Argentine provinces. This time it will take place in Buenos Aires (in the municipalities of Gral. Alvarado and Pilar), Salta, Córdoba, Mendoza, San Juan, Chubut, Río Negro, Misiones and Santa Fe (in the municipality of Bigand).

Presidency of the Nation National Campaigns Started the 2021 edition of the Business School for Food SMEs

The training of the participants consists of 4 months, in which they will receive 6 virtual modules, through 4 meetings of 3 hours each per module and a last module in person for 12 hours.

With these actions, the national agricultural portfolio makes a comprehensive assistance service available to agri-food SMEs, understanding that 97% of the structure of food and beverage production is made up of this type of company, which strongly promotes employment, added value and local development.

Participated in the event, for the national ministry, the Secretary of Food, Bioeconomy and Regional Development, Marcelo Alós; the Undersecretary of Development of Regional Economies, Luis Almirón; the directors of Food Quality Management, Pablo Morón, and Diprose, Juan Manuel Fernández Arocena; the coordinator of the Procal, Ambrosio Pons Lezica; the president of the INV, Martín Hinojosa, and other officials. Together with the Materia Biz trainer, Cristian Longarini.

Voices from all participating provinces

The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Industry and Commerce of Chubut, Leandro Cavaco said: "We thank Minister Basterra, Alós and team for having included Chubut in this program for the first time. A special thanks to our President Alberto Fernández, because this initiative is a concrete example that they are looking at Patagonia, Chubut, achieving the dream of many SMEs”. And he continued: “This represents a milestone for our province in transversal training. 28 local companies will participate, many of them have the DO seal and it is one more step, one more tool that comes to deepen the long-awaited objective that we have from Patagonia to put our country on its feet”.

The Minister of Agriculture and Production of Misiones, Sebastián Oriozabala, expressed: “It is a joy to once again launch the business school. We have already gone through the experience and it has been extremely positive. Give a new opportunity to all those companies that could not be part of it before. There are more than 20 companies that are going to participate in 2021”.

The Minister of Production and Economic Development of San Juan, Andrés Díaz Cano, stated: “It is a pleasure to be able to participate, a special greeting to the co-province Alós, and to all the ministers and authorities present. These types of initiatives make it possible to strengthen all agro-industries in the country. It is an experience that is seen with very good eyes in the productive and entrepreneurial sector of San Juan”.

The Minister of Production and Sustainable Development of Salta, Martin de los Ríos said: “For us from Salta it is a pride to participate again together with other sister provinces. All this management of training our SMEs through primary production so that our SMEs can empower themselves and participate in the entire value chain is always welcome because it generates benefits and jobs for all our people”.

The Secretary of Territorial Development and Roots of Santa Fe, Fabrizio Medina, said: “It is a pleasure to participate in this new edition of the Business School. A sample that the national government understands the logic of the operation of the provinces. For us it is our third participation, with SMEs that have been nourished by experiences. They have connected with each other and it is a way of gaining competitiveness within companies, with the State present”.

The Córdoba Livestock Secretary, Catalina Boetto, stated: "From Córdoba, only thanks for the invitation to the proposal and to the 28 SMEs that are participating, a joy because SMEs represent a very important part of our gross domestic product" .

The Undersecretary of Agriculture and Livestock of Mendoza, Sergio Moralejo, added: “In the same sense that the rest of the colleagues have expressed, thank you for the call. We already have 30 registered SMEs, training is always welcome. We require that our SMEs incorporate new knowledge, tools because these are not easy times for the survival of companies, at the same time we are in an evolution of knowledge that is transversal”.

To conclude, the Undersecretary of Fruit Growing of Rio Negro, Pablo de Azevedo, emphasized: “It will already be our second year with very good results. We have greatly exceeded the capacity of 30 registrations, there are 4 companies that had already done it and registered again this year because they believe it is an essential tool”.

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