The International Potato Center (CIP) welcomes the appointment of Dr Alberto Maurer as Vice Minister of Agricultural Policy at Peru’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI) and looks forward to his contributions to the development of policies to sustain improvements in nutritional security and livelihoods and help Peru’s agricultural sector adapt to and mitigate climate change.
In response to Maurer’s appointment, CIP Director General, Barbara Wells, said, “I would like to congratulate Dr Maurer for this appointment and express my confidence that the Ministry of Agriculture and Peruvian farmers will benefit from his decades of experience in agricultural research and development.”
Maurer is a prominent scientist with a PhD in genetics from the University of Missouri and more than 20 years of experience in research and management. He has held various national and international leadership roles in the agricultural sector and was the Head of Peru’s Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria in 2014-17, when he was a member of CIP’s Board of Trustees. He has also served as an advisor to the senior executive management of Peru’s National Forest and Wildlife Service.
Maurer played a key role in a campaign that resulted in Peru being selected to host the 10th World Potato Congress, an event that attracted more than 600 experts and industry leaders to the city of Cusco in 2018. He subsequently spent three years in China as the Chief Scientific Officer at the CIP-China Center for Asia and the Pacific.
Maurer’s appointment comes at an opportune moment, as the Peruvian government seeks to revive the economy in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. MINAGRI will play a key role in achieving that goal by furthering the sustainable development of the agribusiness sector, in order to create inclusive employment and business opportunities across the country.
“I expect that Dr Maurer’s ample expertise, international experience and management skills will greatly enhance the Ministry’s vital efforts to overcome the current COVID-19 crisis and work toward a more resilient, productive and sustainable agricultural sector in Peru,” said Wells.