The Office of Agricultural Studies and Policies -Odepa-, is a centralized public service, dependent on the President of the Republic through the Ministry of Agriculture, created by Law N ° 19.147, which was published in the Official Gazette of July 21, 1992

Odepa, as indicated in Article 2 of the aforementioned Law, will aim to provide regional, national and international information so that the different agents involved in the agroforestry activity can adopt their decisions.

It is also entrusted to support the management of the Ministry of Agriculture through:

- Provide free information services of interest on agricultural activity, through publications, statistics, reports, studies, news, among others;
- Participate in the definition of criteria to support the country's negotiating position in matters of sectoral foreign trade, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other public agencies that perform related functions;
- Collaborate in the coordination of technical assistance and international cooperation programs;
- Evaluate the budgetary projects of the sector's services, which it submits for the approval of the Minister and monitors its programmatic and budgetary management;
- Carry out studies of the agroforestry reality, detect the problems and emergencies that affect it, evaluate and propose solutions;
- Advise the Minister and the Assistant Secretary on pertinent matters;

Within the framework of Law N ° 19.147, the institutional mission of ODEPA is "to strengthen the management of the Ministry of Agriculture and the public and private agents involved in the forestry and agricultural sector, through the provision of specialized advisory services and information. "

Balance of Integral Management (BGI) of the Office of Agricultural Studies and Policies : document whose purpose is to inform about the objectives, goals and results of the management of services in the form of a public account to the National Congress.