The ceiA3 is the result of the integration of the universities of Almería, Cádiz, Huelva, Jaén and Córdoba to put all the scientific knowledge available to the agri-food sector to contribute to the development of the sector.
Before visiting the ceiA3, Planas highlighted to the media the importance of centers of this type at the present time, in which innovation will play a key role in addressing new economic, social and environmental challenges.
The minister has indicated that, during the celebration of the COP25, it is proving that in the coming years more food will be necessary for a larger population, but using less natural resources, through sustainable agriculture, livestock and forestry for the future. A task, added the minister, in which FAO plays a pioneering role and that Spain, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is driving with an investment of 57 million euros of National Rural Development Program, through different innovation groups on issues of agrifood R&D.
At the moment, the expenditure in Spain on R + D + i is 1.2 percent of GDP and the objective for the next few years is to increase it to 2%, "which will mean a significant effort both by the public sector as from the private. " Also, in the next 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework of the European Union, which is currently being discussed, it is planned to allocate some 10,000 million euros for R&D in the agri-food sector, of which Spain could have more than 950 million.
On the other hand, Planas has ensured that the primary sector "is more the solution than the problem" for the purposes of climate change, due to its capacity to capture and store CO2 emissions. Therefore, the basic orientation of the next Common Agricultural Policy is the protection of the environment. For this, more than 40% of the funds of the CAP They will have a direct or indirect link with the mitigation of climate change and the preservation of the environment.
The minister also commented that the results of the elections held yesterday in the United Kingdom "bring us closer to the reality of an early brexit." Therefore, he reiterated the need for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in an orderly manner, so as to minimize the negative effects that may occur on the markets.
After the meeting at the CeiAe, Luis Planas and Qu Dongyu have visited the Olive Germplasm Bank, which has the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO, where the University of Cordoba Performs varietal testing of seedlings to maintain the initial mother plant reservoir of olive varieties registered in the commercial varieties register.
Spain has been supporting the conservation of plant genetic resources as a fundamental element to prevent the loss of genetic diversity of native species, traditional varieties and ecotypes, and to guarantee the availability of the genotypes necessary for genetic improvement, research and direct use.