Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Colombia and regional Government of Huila signed addendum to MoU aiming at strengthening the agricultural sector
Last 12th of August, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Colombia and the Government of the Huila Department signed, in a virtual ceremony, an addendum to the MoU signed in November 2018 during the visit to the region of the Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Mrs. Carola Schouten.
With this renewed support of The Netherlands to the implementation of the new departmental development plan “Huila Crece”, this addendum reaffirms the mutual interest in the improvement of the social and economic development of the Huila region. Through this addendum, the parties agreed upon the following specific areas of collaboration:
Coffee and cocoa value chains
To consolidate the value chains of high-quality specialty coffees and cocoa in accordance with the food safety requirements of the European Union. Through increasing the productivity of small producers, processing and addition of value; establishing strong commercial relationships between producers and buyers; and, sustainability at the production level with a focus on efficient management of water.
In addition, for the coffee value chain, special attention will be given to the use of residual biomass and gender focus for the empowerment of female producers.
Aquaculture value chain
Consolidation of the aquaculture value chain based on the improvement of port infrastructure with a multimodal approach and sustainability at the production level.
Capacity building on Land Administration
Capacity building in the field of land administration is also contemplated in the addendum. Know-how and experiences will be exchanged with regards to multipurpose cadaster and processes for land tenure regularization. Thanks to this agreement, the successful project “Land in Peace”, conducted by the Dutch Kadaster in collaboration with various Colombian entities of the national level, will be extended to the Huila province.
Commercial Matchmaking
The parties agreed on further exploring possibilities for the commercial matchmaking between the Huila department and the Caribbean territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As the Caribbean islands, especially Aruba and Curazao, remain important touristic destinations there is great potential in the fruits market to which the Huila region has the ambition of becoming an important supplier.
This ambitions will be materialized with the support of different societal sectors through the “Dutch Diamond Approach”, where the experience of Dutch organizations like the Dutch-Colombian Chamber of Commerce – Holland House, the Netherlands Senior Experts – PUM, the Sustainable Trade Initiative – IDH and The Coffee Quest, among others, will be key.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Colombia, Jeroen Roodenburg, stated: “This Addendum that we signed today is an additional example of the strong ties of friendship that exist between the Huila department and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with this commitment we hope to continue contributing to the social and economic development of the department and its people; we will continue to support and strengthen all existing initiatives to strengthen the agricultural sector in the region and be able to build new projects together, with the participation of the Caribbean territories”.