From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – The Algerian minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Said Barkat, paid a visit today (9th), in the Brazilian capital Brasília, to the vegetables unit of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). According to the press office at the organisation, he was welcomed by the head at the centre, José Amauri Buso, and showed interest in signing a technical cooperation agreement with Embrapa.
According to the press office, in the specific case of the vegetables unit, Barkat was interested in solutions to two problems facing Algerian agriculture. One of them is the loss that occurs after harvest. Embrapa has a package of solutions aimed at reducing those losses, involving actions in the fields of logistics, processing, and packing, among others.
He also wants to have access to the production technology for seed potato owned by Embrapa. When one potato is planted, others sprout. The company developed a totally clean "mother" plant, free from viruses or any other plague, which is capable of giving birth to equally clean descendents. According to the press office, this was an initial contact that should be developed in the future.
Also today, the minister and his delegation travelled to the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, where they paid visits to the Embrapa Semiarid, to fruit farmers, and had a meeting with the governor of the state, Eduardo Campos. Barkat will return to his country on Sunday, after spending a week in Brazil visiting companies, sector organisations, and public organisations linked to agribusiness.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
