From January 17th to 19th, three executives of the Monsanto Corporation in Northern Latin America visited Zamorano to strengthen ties with the university. The visitors to Zamorano included Mr. Carlos Caraza, Strategic Business Manager for Northern Latin America, Ms. Ángela Bastidas, Director of Technology Development for Northern Latin America and Juan Carlos Zavala, Parental Lines and Engineering Manager for Northern Latin America, who reaffirmed Monsanto’s interest in strengthening their alliances with Zamorano.
Internships and Job Opportunities
Mr. Caraza said the purpose of the visit to Zamorano was to strengthen their relationships with prestigious educational institutions and especially to attract future Zamorano graduates to work at their institution. “We are convinced that the quality of Zamorano graduates is a fundamental catalyst for change in agriculture, not only in Central America, but throughout the world. We have a number of Zamoranos working at our company, and they are characterized by their spirit of competition, the quality of their formation, their commitment to the field and their ability to integrate and support institutional efforts,” he said.
Zamorano President, Dr. Roberto Cuevas García, said that Monsanto seeks human resources with theoretical and practical training, who are prepared to participate in their projects. “They have found that the profile of a Zamorano graduate is the profile of the employee they require. In fact, when they described the characteristics of the agricultural engineers that they need, we replied you are looking for Zamoranos because we form hardworking entrepreneurs and leaders with character and discipline, good technical knowledge and a mastery of English. We are pleased to know that we are addressing the needs of the market in terms of jobs and professionals because the skills that our graduates develop are required by multinational companies like Monsanto,” said the President.
Monsanto and Zamorano agreed to expand the number of internships for fourth year students, as well as internships after graduation so Zamoranos can occupy key positions within the corporation. Dr. Raúl Zelaya, Director of Institutional Advancement, said Monsanto will notify the Zamorano Employment Office about opportunities and will use the internships to evaluate students and, in some cases, offer them job opportunities.
Other Projects
Monsanto also hopes that Zamorano will apply for financing from the Monsanto Foundation to execute a project to improve food security in Honduras. “This is a fortunate because the Honduran Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Jacobo Regalado, has asked us for support to train technical and field staff to work with agricultural producers and improve the production of staple foods. We will ask for the support of the Monsanto Foundation to develop this project in order to assist the Ministry of Agriculture,” said the President.
This new food security project is related to the “20-20 initiative” that Monsanto has implemented in several countries, especially through the governments. In Honduras it will involve doubling the production of corn by 2020. Monsanto sees Zamorano as an important partner in the formation of technicians in the field of food security and production.
“In addition to the project to strengthen education in the biosciences recently financed by the Monsanto Foundation, Zamorano and Monsanto have a historical relationship that includes contracts for the production of corn seeds and their distribution in the region. As a result of the visit, we were invited apply for financing of the food security project, and in the future we hope to execute a cotton production project with the corporation,” said Dr. Zelaya.
Ms. Bastidas, Director of Technology Development for Northern Latin America at Monsanto said, “There are opportunities to continue extending the current programs with Zamorano and also opportunities involving strategic developments for Honduras in the medium and long term.”
This visit allowed Monsanto officials to learn more about Zamorano, its vision and mission, production fields, student life, the quality of its academic program and its social outreach programs. They also interacted with university scientists. The visit of Monsanto officials to the campus was a response to an invitation made by Zamorano authorities in 2011 during their visit to the world headquarters of Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri, US. The process was facilitated by the Zamorano graduate and Monsanto official, Jorge Cuarezma.
