A champion of agriculture in the hemisphere has died in his native Colombia.
San Jose, September 16 (IICA) Agriculture throughout the Americas mourns the loss of Dr. Armando Samper, Director Emeritus of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), who passed away on September 14 in Bogota.
Dr. Samper, the third Director General, stood at the helm of the Institute from 1960 to 1966.
The current Director General, Victor M. Villalobos, expressed his condolences to the Samper family and ordered that the IICA flag be lowered to half -staff. He also recalled that the Institute grew considerably in stature under the stewardship of Dr. Samper, who added new Member States, strengthened the Institute’s financial base and oversaw the process of opening offices in the member countries.
Founded in the 1947, IICA underwent profound changes in the 1960s.
By 1964, 21 states of the Organization of American States (OAS) had become members of IICA. Its personnel, comprising mostly citizens of the United States and Costa Rica, grew to include representatives of 16 countries. It original headquarters, in the city of Turrialba, Costa Rica, was transferred to country’s capital city, San Jose, in order to expand its scope of action beyond research and education. The number of Offices in the countries grew from four to fifteen. Armando Samper oversaw the entire process.
He was already very familiar with the Institute when he was named Director General, having worked as Associate Director, and was imbued with the concept of institutional expansion to other countries of the Hemisphere.
His first post in the Institute was Head of the Scientific Exchange Service. He founded the Journal Turrialba, recognized as one of the best of its kind at the international level, which is still included today in the best information systems worldwide.
During the Samper administration, IICA focused its activities on topics such as rural development, institution building, use of the tropics, agriculture in arid and Andean regions, post-graduate education and research in the fields of plant breeding and livestock production, and agricultural communication.
His last visit
Dr. Samper visited IICA Headquarters, in Costa Rica, for the last time in July 2003 accompanied by his son Mario, who currently is an IICA Specialist in Rural Development from a Territorial Approach.
Even though his health was waning, his wit and sense of humor were as sharp as ever.
Upon his arrival at the office of the then Director General, he was surprised to find Roxana Montero, Manuel Aguilar, Manuela Zamora and Enrique Salazar, all of whom had worked with during his time at IICA. It wasn’t long until the discussion turned to the good old days.
When he was offered a cup of coffee he said “I drink sugar with coffee. Remember that I worked in the coffee industry in Colombia for 12 years, and I have to support the sector.”
In 1966, Dr. Samper resigned from IICA in order to assume, at the request of his country’s government, the post of Minister of Agriculture.
