The Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, participated in Central America’s primary agricultural forum in Honduras, along with scientists, business executives and NGO representatives, who discussed the outlook for the agriculture sector. The event was inaugurated by the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández.
Tela, Honduras, 30 April 2019. The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Manuel Otero, participated in the 64th Meeting of the Central American Cooperative Program for the Improvement of Crops and Animals (PCCMCA), the region’s primary agricultural forum, which was held in Tela, Honduras. The Director General highlighted the high degree of correspondence between the priorities of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) of Honduras and the agenda developed in the country by the hemispheric organization specializing in agricultural development.
Otero was one of the speakers at the forum, along with Juan Orlando Hernández, President of Honduras, and Mauricio Guevara, Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of the country. Together with Otero, Guevara previously participated in a meeting of the Central American Agricultural Council (CAC), during which the ministers of Agriculture of Central America and the Dominican Republic agreed to create a regional policy for the sector.
“We reasserted IICA’s commitment to continue supporting Honduras in matters related to family farming, water resources management and climate change: three key issues that represent a priority for the government of President Hernández and Minister Guevara,” stated Otero regarding his meeting with the head of SAG.
“IICA has clearly expressed its decision to support Minister Guevara and SAG in matters related to training and institutional strengthening,” added the Director General of IICA. In addition to highlighting the warm hospitality of Hondurans, Otero also underscored the value of events like the PCCMCA meeting, which brought together 250 researchers from 15 countries to assess progress achieved in Central America’s agriculture sector.
In addition to the Director General, Erick Quirós, Special Affairs Coordinator for the Central Region, and Pedro Rocha, International Specialist in Biotechnology and Biosafety, also delivered presentations on behalf of the Institute. Quirós emphasized the need for Central America to develop agendas of a truly regional scope, while Rocha discussed matters related to gene editing.
Otero also expressed his satisfaction with the great recognition that the Institute received at the event, whose participants included key stakeholders of the research area in Central America.
The PCCMCA is a regional forum whose membership is apolitical and voluntary in nature. The Program brings together leading scientists from various universities, private companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international research agencies, in order to examine, discuss and analyze current issues and outlooks for the agriculture and livestock sectors, as well as to share scientific-methodological experiences and drive cooperation activities.
The meeting, whose motto this year was “Crop biofortification and climate adaptation for food and nutritional security,” is organized by SAG and IICA.
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