Santiago, Chile, 13 March 2026 (IICA). The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Muhammad Ibrahim, attended the inaugural activities of Chile’s new President, José Antonio Kast, in Valparaíso and Santiago, and held a working meeting with the incoming Minister of Agriculture, Jaime Campos Quiroga, to familiarize himself with the new administration’s priorities.
Ibrahim, a prestigious Guyanese agronomist who took up his post as IICA Director General last January, attended the swearing-in ceremony held at the National Congress in Valparaíso, and then participated in the official reception with the new president held at the Palacio de La Moneda, the seat of the Chilean government, in Santiago.
The new Minister of Agriculture, Jaime Campos Quiroga, held a meeting with Ibrahim in his office, where he thanked him for his presence at the inauguration of the new government, and outlined the key areas of interest to his administration. He highlighted as his priorities the strengthening of plant and animal health protection, the boosting of agricultural foreign trade, and the deepening of the collaborative agenda of the Southern Cone countries.
The minister mentioned the particular importance of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS) as a body that enables the countries to work together, and as a source of the technical knowhow needed to tackle cross-border pests and diseases that pose a threat to food production. The CAS is a forum for coordinating regional actions comprised of the ministers of agriculture of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Its technical secretariat is managed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) through Gabriel Delgado, who accompanied Ibrahim at the meeting with Minister Campos Quiroga, along with the IICA representative in Chile, Hernán Chiriboga.
“We were able to discuss with the incoming minister the important areas in which the country needs support, such as the control and eradication of the fruit fly, and international trade. We look forward to continuing to work together and exploring further cooperation projects in Chile,”Ibrahim said.
The IICA Director General underlined the initiatives that his organization is currently carrying out in the country that are having a concrete impact, such as those aimed at strengthening rice production, programs for the certification of sustainable production,and those related to soil health.
The IICA Director General also held a working meeting with senior officials from the National Agricultural Society (SNA), an organization that represents a large proportion of Chile’s farming sector -producers, businesspeople and technical professionals-, to discuss the main challenges facing agriculture in the region and explore possible areas of collaboration between the two institutions.
SNA President Antonio Walker and General Secretary Juan Pablo Matte highlighted IICA’s role in providing technical support and coordinating public policies aimed at agricultural development in the Americas. Both praised the international organization’s readiness to help strengthen the agroforestry sector and promote initiatives aimed at achieving more resilient, competitive and sustainable agriculture in order to meet the global challenges.
Regenerative agriculture in Cuncumén
During his visit to Chile, Ibrahim traveled to the town of Cuncumén, in Valparaíso Region, to visit a demonstration farm of agricultural innovations developed with technical cooperation from IICA and financed by the Foundation for Agricultural Innovation (FIA).
The farm is part of a joint regenerative agriculture program involving the IICA Delegation in Chile and the local municipality, aimed at restoring soils, diversifying production, and conserving the environment.
It consists of a total of 20 water and soil conservation works that employ practices such as rainwater harvesting, biological filters, the production of bio-inputs, silvopastoral systems, and the control of ditches formed in the soil by erosion.
“It’s a scalable model of technological innovation, one that has taught us a lot and had real impacts. IICA is playing an important role in this process,” Ibrahim remarked.
More information:
IICA Delegation in Chile
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
