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

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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

Donación de productos agrícolas libres de pesticidas del CATIE al IICA, que incluye plátano verde, papaya, malanga y huevos, destinados a comedores escolares de centros educativos de Coronado como parte de una iniciativa de responsabilidad social.

San José, Costa Rica

June 2, 2026

From the farm to school cafeterias: pesticide-free products reach educational centers in Costa Rica thanks to CATIE/IICA joint effort

A chain of collaboration from the farm to school cafeterias in the municipality of Vázquez de Coronado, Costa Rica, allowed children and adolescents from various schools to receive fresh, pesticide-free foodstuffs as part of a joint initiative by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE).

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Merida, México

June 1, 2026

Cooperation among producers, businesses, researchers, and international organizations like IICA is key to preventing devastating banana disease

The Global Alliance Against TR4, whose Executive Secretariat is operated by IICA and which is composed of major stakeholders in the world’s banana industry, promotes research aimed at finding resistant varieties and increasing on-farm prevention practices.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

San José, Costa Rica

May 29, 2026

IICA Director General receives overwhelming support in presenting the key pillars of the Institute’s work for the next four years, with a focus on strengthening the agriculture sector of the Americas

Member countries of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) expressed support for a presentation by Director General Muhammad Ibrahim during a meeting of the Special Advisory Commission on Management Issues (SACMI), where he outlined the key areas of focus of the organization’s work from now until 2030.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins