So that farming families can make timely decisions and proceed effectively with their crops, the Colombian Agricultural Institute – ICA and the Government of Boyacá, provided the service of the Boyacá countryside with a modern laboratory that will allow analytical procedures to be carried out that enable actions to fight against pests, and improve agricultural production in the territory.
This happened in Sogamoso, where the governor of Boyacá, Ramiro Barragán Adame, was; the General Manager of ICA, Juan Fernando Roa and his Administrative and Financial Assistant Manager, Paula Andrea Cepeda, farming families from Boyacá and citizens. The inaugurated Phytosanitary Diagnostic Laboratory will work in the Valdés Tavera neighborhood.
The laboratory has an investment of more than $1,496 million pesos, and will expand the coverage of the analytical services provided by the ICA, their decentralization, that is, phytopathology, taxonomic determinations of pest insects and molecular diagnostic tests, to the various kinds of crops that exist in the Department.
Juan Fernando Roa, General Manager of the ICA, pointed out that being able to allocate $1,500 million pesos between equipment installation and physical adaptation is a very important effort, understanding that the ICA works with a network of laboratories for the entire national level; as well as that of the Department, there are many others that need to have this service in a decentralized manner and this will give a new vision to the analysis and diagnosis.
For his part, David Mesa, a farmer from the municipality of Aquitania, said that this is a great relief, because from now on it will not be necessary to travel to Bogotá to obtain the phytosanitary certificates required when exporting and internationalizing peasant products.
Source: Government of Boyacá