Argentina launches Master’s degree in plant health management for international trade

Buenos Aires, March 30, 2015 (IICA). Argentina’s National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (SENASA) and the Faculty of Agronomy of the National University of Lomas de Zamora (UNLZ), together with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have agreed to establish the Regional Virtual School for Plant Health Inspectors (ERVIF) in this county, which will offer a Master’s degree course in Management of Phytosanitary Measures in International Trade.

The main objectives of the ERVIF are to promote the protection of plant health in Argentina and in other Latin American countries, contribute to the training of human resources and support regional integration efforts through the joint and harmonious development of the national plant protection organizations (NPPOs).

The agreement was signed by the President of SENASA, Diana Guillén, the Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy of the UNLZ, Carlos Alberto Rossi, and the IICA Representative in Argentina, Gino Buzzetti.

The signing ceremony was also attended by the Vice-president of SENASA, Luis Carné, SENASA’s National Director of Plant Protection, Diego Quiroga, and the Director of Management and Regional Integration of IICA, Diego Montenegro, together with other officials of SENASA, the UNLZ and the Institute.

The authorities emphasized the importance of this pioneering agreement, which will contribute to improving and expanding the country’s institutional capacity for plant protection.

The ERVIF is the result of a project of the Institute’s Technical Cooperation Fund, implemented between October 2012 and October 2014, under the coordination of IICA’s international specialist in agricultural health and food safety, Lourdes Fonalleras.

The NPPOs of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay also participated in this project. In the case of Argentina, the NPPO is the National Directorate of Plant Protection, of SENASA.

The initiative was aimed at improving the technical capabilities of these organizations in order to ensure that countries have effective health inspection and phytosanitary certification systems. A participatory strategy was used which took into account the needs and opinions of the countries, and on this basis the school was established.

According to Gino Buzzetti, IICA’s Representative in Argentina, “the importance of the agreement lies in the fact that the Master’s course seeks to achieve something fundamental: ensuring the quality of the food that the inhabitants of Latin America eat every day.”

Buzzetti explained that the agreement will improve the education of health inspectors and will also provide a more secure framework for the external markets with which the countries of the region conduct their trade. “Those who ensure the quality of our food must be well trained and the UNLZ has the prestige for that task,” Buzzetti added.

The IICA Offices in the abovementioned countries played an essential role in the creation of the ERVIF. In Argentina, the support provided by Buzzetti and by the AHFS specialist, Tomás Krotsch, was also decisive.

For further information contact:
lourdes.fonalleras@iica.int
tomas.krotsch@iica.int