Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Territorial Development and Family Farming

The program will focus on collaboration with governments and social, economic and entrepreneurial family farming (FF) cooperatives, with a view to promoting the design and application of public policies aimed at fostering systemic competitiveness in rural areas, mid-sized cities, production units and businesses. The program will also seek to integrate various concepts into cooperation activities, such as the notion of institutional quality, public investment policies and the promotion of private investment and associative efforts.

To this end, the program will continue to contribute to the design and implementation of policies, programs and projects to facilitate the inclusion of FF production in agrifood systems, as well the development of a new generation of public policies. There will be a focus on associative strategies that facilitate agricultural competitiveness, ecosystem sustainability, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, the reduction of depopulation and migration, and coordination and investment in public and private enterprises in rural areas. The program will work with countries to:

  • Promote and support the development of a new generation of public FF policies that drive the development of rural territories and agrifood systems. The aim is to ensure the inclusion of family farming production units and to increase their supply and demand capacity, through their promotion and inclusion in effective and efficient cooperative enterprises, by way of public-private partnerships.
  • Facilitate the social and economic inclusion of FF in agrifood systems, through technical cooperation activities.
  • Contribute to enhancing FF competitiveness in rural areas and agrifood systems, by developing associative capacities, with a focus on promoting cooperative efforts.
  • Spearhead actions to strengthen the capacities of regional policy integration organizations and institutions to stimulate discourse on territorial development- and FF-related public policies.

Specialist

Program Manager

 

Technical team

 

Advisory team

  • Álvaro Ramos, Uruguay
  • José Emilio Guerrero, Spain

Contact us

Mario León Frutos

Program manager

mario.leon@iica.int

Technical Cooperation Direction

dct@iica.int

Compartir

Multimedia

Explore our videos and discover IICA’s impact on agriculture and rural development throughout the region.

Headquarters, Sede Central

November 26, 2025

COP30. Day 10. Block 3

Headquarters, Sede Central

November 26, 2025

COP30. Day 10. Block 2

COP30 Brasil

Belém do Pará, Brasil

November 26, 2025

At the COP in Brazil and the Amazon, IICA and its partners showcased the transformations taking place across the Americas’ agricultural sector and showed why it is a guarantor of global food security

The ongoing transformation of agriculture in the Americas to consolidate its role as a guarantor of global food security and sustainability was showcased to the world by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and its partners during COP30

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Belém do Pará, Brasil

November 24, 2025

Bioeconomy was one of the central topics at COP30, and IICA showcased its potential to drive development in the rural territories of the Americas

Initiatives currently underway in the Amazon, the Andes, Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean attracted participants’ interest at the Home of Sustainable Agriculture of the Americas, the name of IICA’s pavilion, which was present for the fourth consecutive time at a COP, following the experiences in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Belém do Pará, Brasil

November 24, 2025

Representatives of the governments of Canada and Australia and the California Department of Agriculture visited the IICA pavilion to place the importance of soil health on the COP30 agenda

Representatives of the governments of Canada and Australia and the California Department of Food and Agriculture visited the pavilion of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) at COP30 to draw attention to the importance of soil health.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins