Ocho Sur, a business group dedicated to the sustainable production of oil palm products and by-products in Ucayali, opens its doors to the Academy through its new Internship Program, aimed mainly at university students in the last terms of their respective faculties or schools in the region.
We should remember that palm oil is among the most widely used vegetable fats in the world and accounts for more than a third of the world’s consumption of vegetable oils and we can find it in most of the products we use in daily, and it is also an alternative crop to stop the illegal planting of the coca leaf and deforestation.
The aim of Ocho Sur is to be a role model of sustainable practices in the development of oil palm, which respects and cares for the biodiversity of the Amazon forest and generates inclusive development for its neighboring communities, collaborators and contractors.
In this context, the business group saw fit to open its doors to university students in Ucayali, so that they could learn about oil palm, its sustainable practices and the innovative processes applied in its fields and processing plant, listed as one of the best in South America.
Thus, the first to make use of this Internship Program were 26 students of the VIII and X terms of the School of Economics and International Business of the National University of Ucayali, who were accompanied by their director, Dr. Miguel López, and the professor of the Agribusiness course, Dr. Héctor Huerto.
All of them toured the facilities of the Ocho Sur processing plant, getting to know the oil palm and its innovative processes, with engineers Alexander Rosales, Agricultural Production Manager, and Michael Lozano, Deputy Plant Manager of the palm oil company, as guides and lecturers, respectively.
“One thing is the theory in the classroom and the practice is another, the learning is different. I believe that this internship in the field is part of the complement to the academic training of the students of the School of Economics,” said Dr. López emphatically.
In this regard, senior executive Alfonso Morante said that the academic support, granted by the director of the UNU School of Economics, definitely promotes the good reception of the Internship Program “because these are important for the professional training of students.”
