Experience as Ministry of Agriculture in Ecuador

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When I returned to Ecuador upon completion of my master’s degree at Purdue I had a clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish with my degree. I wanted to work influencing the choices made by my country in the agricultural sector. Having worked in the government, previous to leaving the country, I thought I had an idea of what I was to expect of my roles and responsibilities. It did not take me long, as I settled in the Ministry of Agriculture, to realize that my role and the work dynamics in the National Bank of Development would be very different from my new assignment as the National Director of Agricultural Policies and Strategies.
The main assignment I led was the analysis of agricultural related bills proposed by the National Assembly. This included a fair amount of coordination with different areas of the ministry particularly trade and commerce, irrigation, land management and so forth. However the most challenging task in this role was bridging the knowledge gap between the field experts and the assembly members (equivalent to the US Senators and representatives). This role helped me not only learn the procedure of passing regulation in Ecuador but the impact of creating policy properly and responsibly.
After the 2013 elections, due to success I had in my previous role, the authorities decided to appoint me as the National Director of Sustainable Agricultural Productivity. To date my biggest assignment is to lead the planning and implementation of the agricultural component of the National Bio-Fuels program. This program consists on the production of ethanol from sugarcane, in turn shifting our dependence from fossil fuels to sustainable and renewable energy. Most importantly, it seeks to support our government’s main f...

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...embered myself every day to take time and discuss with them other things unrelated with the project like their career ambitions and professional development. Now that I am planning to quit my job in order to go to HKS, I encourage them to seek training opportunities so one of them becomes my replacement, but moreover to support their long-term career plans.
As I am writing this essay, it is late November. The rains have not started yet and we have successfully planted 3000 new acres of sugarcane. This production will be used as seed during the next year, where we plan to incorporate 25000 new acres of sugarcane that will be used exclusively to produce ethanol and subsequently bio-fuels. Additionally with this program we have benefited 11 different cooperatives of small farmers, impacting the wellbeing of approximately 1000 families in the southern coast of Ecuador.

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