At a meeting in Costa Rica, representatives of the ministries of agriculture of the Americas have been discussing IICA’s new medium-term plan and ways of strengthening the institution.
San Jose, Costa Rica, May 21, 2014 (IICA). The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Víctor M. Villalobos, has presented a proposal for the work of his organization over the next four years to the Executive Committee, one of the Institute’s governing bodies. The proposal calls for a revamp of the technical assistance model, in order to focus more on results.
Villalobos explained IICA’s proposed 2014-2018 Medium-Term Plan (MTP) to representatives of 18 countries at a two-day meeting in San Jose that got under way on May 21.
The participants in the meeting recommended that IICA tweak the mechanisms that would enable it to make contributions to agriculture that would have a bigger impact in its 34 member countries, based on the strategic objectives and the hemispheric vision set out in the MTP.
“The maximum potential of agriculture in the hemisphere will only be realized if all the countries, individually and working together, undertake large-scale transformations of their agricultural sectors,” the Institute’s Director General observed.
In his opinion, IICA should support the countries’ efforts to bring about improvements in the areas of productivity and competitiveness, food security, rural development, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. “We have an obligation to provide quality technical cooperation, manage resources efficiently and deliver concrete, verifiable and measurable results effectively,” he added.
Costa Rica’s new Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Luis Felipe Arauz, took part in the meeting of the Executive Committee and stressed that IICA’s 2014-2018 MTP should continue to support innovation.
“We have to implement innovative systems for the production of food and inputs that reduce carbon emissions and, as a matter of urgency, make innovations in the services that each government offers to agriculture,” he commented.
“This new MTP is being presented at a special time in our region, because the target date of the Millennium Development Goals is 2015 and a light has been shone on the subsequent agenda: we can use agriculture to reduce poverty and combat hunger following the path that has already been mapped out,” remarked the Minister of Agriculture of Guyana, Leslie Ramsammy.
The United States delegation, led by Bryce Quick, Associate Administrator and Chief Operating Officer of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS/USDA), and Canada’s representative Daryl Nearing, Deputy Director of the Multilateral Relations Division at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, praised the results-driven management model proposed by Villalobos.
The United States also recommended making more efficient use of financial resources and focusing on achievable objectives.
Mexico and Brazil endorsed that position. “We think that the proposed MTP offers a new technical cooperation model and this will give the Institute a positive new orientation,” commented Luciano Vidal, an adviser to Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA).
“The MTP presents a very important methodological advance in technical cooperation, but it must have very realistic goals,” said the Director of Commercial Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil, Benedito Rosa do Espiritu Santo.
The delegates of Chile, Uruguay and Argentina taking part in the Executive Committee meeting were of the opinion that IICA’s work over the next four years should acknowledge the different agricultural technical assistance needs of countries in the hemisphere, depending on whether they are net food exporters or importers.
“This differentiation is very important, to avoid doing what other agencies do, which is to view what goes on in the region as homogeneous, as that would make the implementation of programs and projects very complex,” pointed out the Adviser on International Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile, Alex Barril.
The Planning Officer of the Ministry of Food Production of Trinidad and Tobago, Lueandra M. Neptune, recommended strengthening work at the national level, so that the objectives of the MTP match the agricultural priorities of each country.
The participants in the Executive Committee meeting include delegations from 17 IICA Member States and observers from the European Union, Turkey and the Czech Republic, as well as Spain, an associate member of IICA.
The Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos, explained that the observations of the Executive Committee would be included in the final version of the 2014-2018 MTP, which will provide the roadmap for the Institute’s actions in the years ahead.
For further information:
evangelina.beltran@iica.int
