Leaders Of Rurality

The IICA will recognize rural leaders in the Americas, under an initiative to pay tribute to men and women who are leaving their mark and making a difference in rural communities of our hemisphere.

This award pays tribute to those who are playing a unique dual role: guaranteeing food and nutritional security, by producing under all circumstances, as well as protecting the biodiversity of the planet. It will also emphasize their capacity to be positive role models in rural areas of the region.

References

IICA recognizes Dagoberto Suazo as a Leader of Rurality of the Americas for his decades-long efforts to enhance the quality and promote the exportation of Honduran coffee

Umeeda and Nareena Switlo, who process turmeric to fuel the prosperity of rural farmers in Belize, are recognized as IICA Leaders of Rurality of the Americas

Umeeda was born in Uganda and came to Belize via Canada. There she discovered a treasure growing in the wild, converting it, along with her daughter, into an engine of prosperity for farmers.

Julio César Delgado, an ornamental flower grower from Colombia and promotor of sustainable production, is recognized by IICA as a “Leader of Rurality”

Delgado lives in the municipality of San Antonio del Tequendama, located 50 kilometers from the Colombian capital of Bogotá, where the nursery industry is an important economic activity with over 100 establishments.

Cooperative member Chito Quintero, a role model for peasant and indigenous communities in Panama, recognized by IICA as a “Leader of Rurality”

Quintero, who forms part of the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous community, lost his mother at the age of 6 and had to work from an early age to support his siblings. He became a union leader shortly after becoming a banana farmer, and in 1991, he co-founded the banana cooperative Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples Bananera del Atlántico (COOBANA), which currently has 220 members and more than 600 workers.

IICA recognizes Brazilian Francisca Neri as a “Leader of Rurality” for inspiring young people and helping to revolutionize sheep and goat farming in a municipality in northeast Brazil

The daughter of rural farmers from Betânia, a municipality in the state of Piauí, Francisca is now 25 and is Secretary of Family Farming, a position from which she promotes associativism and cooperativism to improve income and quality of life for small-sized farmers.

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