Esta ley establece la creación de un Fondo de Becas en el Departamento de Agricultura para estudios post-graduados en agronomía, veterinaria y otras profesiones agrícolas. El fondo se nutrirá de aportaciones anuales del Departamento y sus agencias adscritas, así como de donaciones. Se dará prioridad a empleados del gobierno y a estudiantes que se comprometan a trabajar para el Departamento tras completar sus estudios.
(Approved March 3, 2002)
To direct that the Department of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico create a Scholarship Fund for post-graduate studies for Agronomists, Veterinarians, and other agriculture-related professions and to direct that the Department of Agriculture as well as any of the corporations attached thereto set aside funds from their regular budget and/or annual income to defray said financial aids.
Agriculture throughout the world has become an industry governed by technical complexity. This reality brings about more specialization in the various fields of the agricultural industry, as has been the case with medical sciences and engineering. Agronomy, veterinary sciences, and other agriculture-related professions require technical specialization that at present is not offered in the island.
Animal husbandry, agricultural marketing, agricultural engineering, aquiculture and other fields call for specific and specialized knowledge to put into practice modern techniques such as trickle irrigation, soil conservation, embryo transfer and genetics, among others.
The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, offers bachelor's degrees in agricultural sciences, which qualify its graduates to obtain an agronomist's license and to practice the profession in the island. If any of these professionals wishes to specialize in any field, his/her only option in
Puerto Rico are the post-graduate corps offered by the Mayagüez Campus; otherwise, he or she will have to seek other options in credited universities abroad.
In the case of veterinarians, the situation is worse since they have to emigrate from the beginning in pursuit of their education, because no university in Puerto Rico offers a study program in said discipline. This reality prevents many students with financial limitations from pursuing education in the specialization they want, which would greatly serve the needs of the new agricultural era in Puerto Rico.
For all of the stated above, it is necessary for the Department of Agriculture to create a Scholarship Fund to encourage agricultural sciences' graduates to obtain their specialization abroad, in order for our farmers to get the new techniques which modern agriculture demands.
Section 1.- The Department of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is hereby directed to create a Scholarship Program for PostGraduate Studies. This Program shall have the purpose of granting scholarships to pay partially or entirely, studies for agronomists, veterinarians, or other professionals directly related to the Department of Agriculture or its dependencies.
Section 2.- A Board of Directors shall be created, to be chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture, and constituted by the Dean of the Agricultural Sciences College of the Mayagüez Campus, two (2) additional members chosen from among the Directors or Administrators of the Corporations attached to the Department of Agriculture, one representative from the
College of Agronomists of Puerto Rico, and one representative from the College of Veterinarians.
Section 3.- Priority shall be given to students who pledge themselves to work for the Government in the specialty obtained, matching every year of scholarship with a year in service.
Section 4.- The Board shall give priority to applicants who are employees of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its attached corporations. The balance of leave with pay of said employees may be taken into account and this may be supplemented with a scholarship.
Section 5.- In addition to the regular employees of the Department of Agriculture and the corporations attached thereto, students who pledge under contract to offer their services to the Department after completing their studies, may avail themselves of the Fund.
Section 6.- The Scholarship Fund of the Program shall be replenished by an annual contribution of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars $($ 25,000)$ for the first year; fifty thousand dollars $($ 50,000)$ for the second year; and one hundred thousand dollars $($ 100,000)$ for the third and subsequent years, from the savings and income of the Department of Agriculture and agencies attached thereto. In addition, the Fund may receive transfers from other government agencies as well as donations from the private business sector.
Section 7.- The first transfer of funds shall be made in the same fiscal year that this Act is approved.
Section 8.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 41 (H.B. 646) of the $3^{ ext {nd }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to direct that the Department of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico create a Scholarship Fund for post-graduate studies for Agronomists, Veterinarians, and other agriculture-related professions and to direct that the Department of Agriculture as well as any of the corporations attached thereto set aside funds from their regular budget and/or annual income to defray said financial aids, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $29^{ ext {th }}$ of December of 2003.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director