The Integrated Centre for Agricultural Training and Experiences (CIFEA) of Molina de Segura, attached to the Regional Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Environment of the Region of Murcia, is a training centre which, as an integrated centre, develops its activities focused on four main lines of action:

  • Development of Intermediate and Higher Level Training Cycles in the Professional Families of the Food Industry and Energy and Environment.
  • Carrying out training actions for Employment Training, both Continuous Training and Occupational Training.
  • Development of agri-food technology transfer activities.
  • Participation in international activities, European programmes and international development cooperation actions.

In addition, since 2015 and for the entire national territory, it is a National Reference Centre in the professional area of Vegetable Preserves of the professional family of Food Industries., created by Royal Decree 871/2015, of 2 October ( BOE nº 245 of 13-10-2015).

The Vegetable Preserves area integrates the following production and training subsectors of the Agri-Food Industry:

  • Fruit preserves
  • Canned vegetables, pulses, tubers, mushrooms and edible fungi.
  • Cereal preserves.
  • Juice and concentrate production.
  • Preservation and packaging of nuts and dried fruit
  • Production of marmalades, compotes and jams.
  • Pasta, meat or fruit jam processing
  • Candied fruits (glazed, frosted,…)
  • Olives and Pickles.
  • Fridge-preservation of fruit and vegetables
  • Handling and packaging of fresh fruit and vegetables
  • Freezing of fruit and vegetables
  • Processing of 4th and 5th range vegetable products
  • Paprika and other spices.
  • Dried / dehydrated plant foods.
  • Functional and nutraceutical foods

The National Reference Centres (CRN) are public centres that carry out innovation and experimentation actions in the field of vocational training and whose main characteristics are as follows:

  • They are a reference for the Vocational Training System as a whole, both for the training centres for employment and also for the centres of the educational system, as well as for the productive sector.
  • They are unique for the entire national territory in the field of the Professional Family or Area in which they have been qualified and their competences are also state-wide.
  • They will be elite and leading centres, each one in its own area, and will promote the necessary measures and research programmes to meet the needs of emerging and innovative sectors, such as the agri-food sector.

The actions of these Centres will emanate from the Annual Work Plans that are approved following the guidelines established by the General Council of Vocational Training of the State and financed, therefore, by the State Administration. These actions are of great importance and transcendence for the sector, as they involve:

  • A commitment to knowledge and innovation as drivers of economic progress, including employment growth.
  • A tool for discovering new professions or new needs in the world of work linked to the agri-food sector, designing its training plan and integrating it into the Vocational Training System.
  • Observatories of the technological evolution and transformation of the regional and national food industry sector in order to adapt training to the changes taking place.
  • A means to improve the professional qualification of workers and to encourage the promotion and stability of employment.