Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Innovation Productivity

EMBRAPA and IICA evaluate financing of 33 project proposals for the development of agriculture in LAC

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

Fifty-eight projects designed to strengthen small-scale agriculture were submitted in response to the third call for proposals of the LAC Market Place initiative.

Los proyectos seleccionados podrán recibir hasta US$75 mil.

Brasilia, January 23, 2015 (IICA). The Brazilian Corporation for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) are evaluating 33 proposals for projects designed to promote agricultural and rural development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as part of the third call for proposals of the LAC Market Place initiative.

The projects selected will receive around USD 75,000 each.

More than half the proposals received (58%) involve technologies for raising productivity, while 21% focus on natural resources management. Around 15% of the projects are related to technologies for smallholders and poverty reduction, and 6% to institution building, policies, and the market.

The Market Place platform was created in 2010, as a South–South cooperation initiative for rural development in the African countries. When it began to invite proposals aimed at promoting the same type of development in LAC in 2012, EMBRAPA and IICA decided to join forces to foster the creation of networks of researchers based in Brazil, other Latin American countries, and the Caribbean.

The financing for the proposals that are approved come from Brazilian partners, such as the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and others outside LAC, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Since 2010, almost 500 projects have been implemented with Market Place resources, 148 of them in LAC. Colombia is the country that has submitted the largest number of proposals (25 since 2012).

During the Market Place’s first year of activity in LAC, 53 project proposals were received, with researchers responsible for 15 of them. In 2014, 22 of the 58 proposals were submitted by groups of professionals led by women.

One of the most striking projects already under way in LAC involves the production of oil from the andiroba or crabwood tree, which is common in the Amazon region. The project is designed to conserve the forest and strengthen traditional communities in Suriname.

Under another initiative, small farmers in Bolivia are being trained in the organic production and marketing of native species of sweet potato.

More information: 
manuel.otero@iica.int

 

Share

Related news​

Asunción, Paraguay

September 16, 2025

Nidia González, who champions the empowerment of women farmers in Paraguay and strives to raise living standards in her community, has now been recognized as an IICA Leader of Rurality of the Americas 

Nidia is President of the Comité de Santo Domingo, a group that seeks to improve the income and standard of living of the entire community.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Madrid, España

September 16, 2025

The IICA Director General, during a working visit to Spain, met with the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas; visited the Spanish Congress and was honored by Universidad de Córdoba

In his meeting with Planas, Otero reflected on the close collaboration with Spain and characterized the Institute’s technical cooperation as systemic, efficient and collaborative, providing benefits to more than ten million farmers and actively undertaking 358 projects to enhance food security and rural development.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

San José, Costa Rica

September 10, 2025

Erick Geovany Ac Tot, a cocoa entrepreneur who promotes high-quality cocoa and the preservation of ancestral trees in Guatemala, is named an IICA Leader of Rurality 

Erick Geovany Ac Tot—a prominent Guatemalan cocoa entrepreneur who has been assisting small farmer organizations, promoting high-quality cocoa production and preserving heirloom trees for years, in addition to being a cocoa taster—has been named a Leader of Rurality of the Americas by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). 

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins