IICA and its partners are working in 34 member countries to contribute directly or indirectly to the achievement of the SDGs.
By Dr. Priscila Henríquez, IICA, Specialist in the Management of Technological Innovation, priscila.henriquez@iica.int
For more than seventy years, IICA has been contributing to agricultural development and improving the wellbeing of the rural inhabitants in the Western Hemisphere through a variety of initiatives. IICA’s collaboration is provided through four mechanisms: the flagship projects, externally funded projects, rapid response actions and the projects financed by the Technical Cooperation Fund. The components of IICA’s technical cooperation model aligned with the institution’s Medium Term Plan 2014-18, aim at contributing to the major transformations expected to occur in agriculture in the countries of the Americas.
All activities have one thing in common: in one way or another, they contribute to developing capacities and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly those of zero hunger, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, climate action, and responsible consumption and production. Capacity development is at the core of the cooperation, as activities focus on developing and strengthening multi-stakeholder fora that catalyze a smooth translation of policies and instruments into action.
IICA understands the complexity and diversity of actors in agriculture and works in collaboration with a wide arrange of public and private organizations, from national and local governments, the private sector, international organizations and civil society.
Some of the concrete results of the work that IICA and its partners are doing in our 34 member countries that are contributing directly or indirectly to the achievement of the SDGs include:
- In Guatemala, nearly 1,500 small and medium-scale producers in the Q’eqchi’ territory will receive information on climate, prices, production technologies, pest and diseases, and other related topics both in Spanish and the Q’eqchi’ language to improve their agriculture systems and nutrition. The information is delivered through the TOTOGEO platform, which is managed jointly by the Universidad Rafael Landívar, the Universidad de San Carlos, the Guatemalan Radiophonic Education Federation, the Verapaces Federation of Cooperatives, and the Association of Cardamom Producers, with financial support from the FAS/USDA and IICA.
- Technological innovation plays an important role for improving agricultural productivity. Therefore, with funding from the European Union, the Regional Program for Research and Innovation by Agricultural Value Chains (PRIICA) has made available more than 25 agriculture technologies and to 4,000 smallholders, members of 24 local innovation consortia in six Central American countries. In Panama alone, 836 producers were trained in the role played by women in food security and nutrition, contributing to bridging the gender gap in many rural areas.
- Under the framework of Central American Strategy for Rural Area-based Development (ECADERT), IICA and partners are providing 25 families with training in vegetable production of community kitchen gardens, the construction of ecological stoves, solid waste management and disposal, production of handcraft goods, gender and entrepreneurism. Similarly in El Salvador, the project enhanced smallholder farmers’ technical skills and access to innovations that enabled them to improve their income and food security.
- In Mexico, capacity for organization and joint action were increased to support 21 excluded groups in territories of La Selva Lacandona, Chiapas to achieve economic integration. IICA, with support from the government and civil society, is implementing ten projects designed to stimulate family farming and rural development in that area.
- The Caribbean is not only one of the most vulnerable regions to the effects of climate change, but is also a land of opportunities for activities linked to agriculture, such as agro-tourism. IICA strengthened the management and associative capabilities of the national chapters of the Caribbean Network of Rural Women Producers (CANROP). As a result, the Network of Women Producers in The Bahamas has a strategic plan and at least 100 women have been trained in agro-tourism, backyard farming, food security, and sustainable development. Also, Jamaica’s Network of Women Producers improved its finances and the ability to secure loans with auditing processes and training in good recordkeeping implemented with the Institute’s assistance.
- IICA also works at the policy level, influencing good governance and assisting countries in developing the design of policies, plans, and agreements on agricultural, rural development and food security, which included the facilitation of small agribusiness operations, value added, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Examples include the work in Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Panama, and Paraguay.
Finally, IICA is also addressing the needs of new agricultural professionals to be better equipped with a set of skills required to tackle the constantly emerging challenges in the sector. The ‘new professional’ should, for example, be better able to work across different disciplines and in partnership with different stakeholders, and understand the value chain and potential for profit and entrepreneurship at different stages. The Institute manages a grant from Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) that has provided over 300 scholarships for young professionals to pursue masters and doctoral degrees in agricultural related disciplines in Mexico. Some of the thesis work done by the scholars pertains to food and nutritional security in the student’s countries. Once they return to their countries of origin, these professionals will become members of IICA’s extensive network of professionals.
IICA is continuously aligning and expanding its partner network to ensure the greatest collective support reaches the agricultural producers, processors, traders and rural communities in the hemisphere. Sound partnerships that include public and private entities at hemispheric, regional and local levels, will ensure that the agricultural potential of Latin America and Caribbean helps to meet the challenge of feeding nearly 10 billion people at mid-century.
*The opinion expressed in this newsletter are those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the Institute on the topics presented.
This post appears in the IICA Delegation in the USA Newsletter – March – April 2016
