The European Union presented the CREA project, which will support the strengthening of the export of eight Ecuadorian products with $4.7 million

The avocado, bananas, coffee, cocoa, guayusa, guanábana, banana and quinoa will receive support from the CREA project.

Eight agri -food products will receive support from theEuropean Union, with a background of$ 4.7 million (4.5 million euros)to strengthen their respective value chains and facilitate their marketing to the European market, through theRighting Project to the Reactivation of Agrifood Ecuador (CREA), which was presented last Wednesday, May 18, in Quito.

In this way, avocado, banana, coffee, cocoa, guayusa, guanábana, banana and quinoa crops will receive support from this project, which will be executed in the country in addition to the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fishing.

Charles-Michel Geurts, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) in EcuadorHe explained that CREA is defined in diversification towards sustainable products with added value and associativity to benefit who the column of sustainable development is, which are the MSMEs.

"The agreement with the EU is a development tool that supports government vision to the ecological transition through European standards that encourage producers to improve the sustainability of their products to be in all markets in the world," said the ambassador during the presentation of the project.

For its part, The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Bernardo ManzanoHe stressed that the project will attract the interest of young people to the countryside and generate employment in the rural sector. In addition, it will promote strategies to strengthen and improve competitiveness and innovation, integrating sustainable practices and promoting policies that facilitate exports, attending to green requirements and standards of the European market.

"(Rural youth) need these types of projects to prosper and really being able to get ahead," said the minister, considering having another market vision so that producers are agricultural entrepreneurs, who join and organize through cooperatives to invest in infrastructure, training and technology, in order to improve productive processes.

TheEU commercial counselor,Immaculate Montero, he considered that with Crea Ecuador can continue taking advantage of the benefits of the multipartes commercial agreement that he has with the block, which in the five years he has been valid1.3 billion euros.

Montero estimated that the Ecuadorian agricultural sector has an opportunity and a challenge to meet the demand for products from that market, which currently requires organic products, of which Ecuador was the largest exporter last year. "Ecuador is lucky to have agricultural products that are highly appreciated in European and world markets," added the diplomat.

While,Fausto rodríguez, Director de Rikolto y del projecto creaHe said that small producers organizations may improve their production, increase their income and meet the demand for quality products, made of sustainable systems.