These activities are part of the specific technical assistance program for the benefit of small agricultural producers and peasants in the provinces of Elqui and Limarí.

More than thirty small producers and farmers from Los Choros, Las Cardas, Cerrillos de Tamaya, Ovalle, among other locations, participated in the first olive technical talk and initiation of olive oil tasting of the Technological Transfer program to Improve Olive Exploitation in the Coquimbo Region, promoted by the Institute of Agricultural Development and the University of La Serena (Department of Agronomy).

The day held at the ULS facilities included the talks “Olive production: profitable production alternative for the Coquimbo Region” and “Quality in the extra virgin olive oil extraction process”, by José Luis Cisternas and Héctor Troncoso, agricultural engineers from Agrolivos Consultores Ltda. and olive growing advisors; in addition to “General criteria on the chemical and organoleptic quality of virgin olive oils”, whose rapporteur was Mg. Fabiola Jamett, academic of the Department of Chemistry of the ULS and head of the Laboratory of Chemical Analysis and Tasting Panel of the Department of Agronomy of this house of higher education, who carried out the Initiation to Olive Oil Tasting. 

The academic vice-rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Jorge Catalán, valued the implementation of these activities and recalled that these are part of the alliance established with INDAP to jointly develop the specific technical assistance program for the benefit of small agricultural producers. and farmers from the provinces of Elqui and Limarí, an initiative in which the Department of Agronomy plays a fundamental role, considering the work on the olive issue that it has developed for more than ten years.

For her part, the head of the INDAP Development Department, Tonya Romero, stated that through this program they seek to highlight the importance of olive oil from the Coquimbo Region, “a line of work that the ULS has absolutely perfected and deepened.”  

While the director of the Department of Agronomy of the state campus, Dr. Adriana Benavides, indicated that this activity is very important for the University, INDAP and of course the Coquimbo Region, “all these instances are good to promote and develop this field. which is so important at the regional, national and international level.”

One of the participating farmers, Adrián Tello, from the Campo Lindo sector, Valle del Encanto, expressed that this day has been of great contribution, “we have learned a lot and I think we will continue learning. What we needed was advice and knowledge (…) and this will allow us to improve the crop, the irrigation system and the quality of the oil.” 

Meanwhile, Johnny Rojas, from El Huacho, commune of Combarbalá, who was grateful to INDAP and the ULS for this opportunity, indicated that “this day has been very good, we are olive producers and we are going to acquire knowledge, we are going to learn more of the oil and with this we will be able to venture into what this sector is.”

Present at the event were the vice-rector for Economic and Administrative Affairs, Dr. Marcela Aguirre, the dean of the Faculty of Sciences of the ULS, Dr. Geraldo Brown, the regional director of ProChile, Paola Vásquez, the representative of the Municipality of La Serena, Irma Petit, and professionals from the technical teams of the University and INDAP.