By all accounts, 2016 has been a very exciting and busy year for IICA around the hemisphere as we are reaching the mid-point of the implementation of our current Medium Term Plan; but most importantly, because everyone at IICA continues to work to produce significant transformations to advance a competitive, sustainable and inclusive agriculture in our hemisphere.
IICA Representative in the USA,
Head of CAESPA
By all accounts, 2016 has been a very exciting and busy year for IICA around the hemisphere as we are reaching the mid-point of the implementation of our current Medium Term Plan; but most importantly, because everyone at IICA continues to work to produce significant transformations to advance a competitive, sustainable and inclusive agriculture in our hemisphere.
As part of these efforts during the first half of April, the Institute conducted our IV Institutional Management Meeting: “Toward strengthening the technical cooperation model”, in which all the professionals and authorities of the Institute analyzed progress, identified obstacles and set a plan of action to ensure that we will meet all the goals defined in our Medium Term Plan 2014-2018.
Also in April, our Director General presented to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States,
the Institute´s report for 2015. From this report, here are some highlights of our significant achievements:
- “Assessment, design, and formulation of innovative policies and strategies for agricultural and rural development, aimed specifically at facilitating business activities and promoting innovation, participatory management, inclusion, and family farming.
- Development and linking to markets of at least eleven agricultural chains in ten countries, through the creation of committees for competitiveness; training in management, entrepreneurship, associative enterprises, and value added; and the operation of market information systems.
- Promotion of technological and commercial innovations aimed at improving agroecological production, agroindustry, fish farming, beekeeping and water resource management and reducing food loss. The improvements adopted can be seen in products such as rice, vegetables, poultry, cacao, coffee, flowers, avocadoes, tomatoes, potatoes, and cassava.
- Agricultural health and food safety assurance in the Americas through the training of sanitary officials, the harmonization of processes to gain access to markets, the use of good agricultural and production practices, emergency response actions, and the management of risks, particularly those associated with climate change.
- Increase in 16 countries of public sector capabilities for integrated water resource management, the use of irrigation systems and water harvesting, waste management, and the implementation of measures to combat soil degradation.
- Coordination of institutional efforts designed to achieve climate-smart agriculture, promoting capacity development within the ministries of environment and agriculture, the development of plans for climate change adaptation in agriculture, and the integration of the gender perspective to address the threat that climate change poses.
- Increased use of agricultural insurance, thanks to the implementation of training activities in at least 11 countries and studies on the performance of insurance markets.
- Promotion of knowledge-intensive agriculture through networks, grants, and information systems. Of special importance were the approval of 301 grants to enable students to take master’s and doctoral degree courses under the program with Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), and the enrollment of 121 students in the master’s degree program in food security operated by the Open and Distance University of Mexico.
- Publication of the Declaration of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas Mexico 2015, referring to sustainable agricultural productivity and rural inclusion, which was discussed in the Eighteenth Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA).
- A 6.57% increase in IICA’s quota budget beginning in 2016 and the offer by most Member States to pay over-quotas, for a global increase of 8.11%.”
As you will read in this newsletter, this Delegation and the professionals assigned to it have also had a very busy last two months, with several of us participating in national and international meetings and also conducting several webinars to share knowledge in relevant issues to agriculture, agricultural policy and trade.
To close this introduction I want to specially thank all the private sector organizations that took the time to join us for a conversation with our Director General on April 19th. I am sincerely confident that this is a first step towards finding new and innovative ways in which we can work together to advance agriculture in our hemisphere.
As in previous occasions I hope you will enjoy this newsletter and please feel free to share with us any comments or suggestions that you consider pertinent. Thanks for your support and we look forward to continued work with you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Miguel García-Winder, IICA Representative in the USA, Head of CAESPA
*This post appears in the IICA Delegation in the USA Newsletter – March – April 2016
*The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and they do not reflect the position of the Institute on the topics presented.
