TEGUCIGALPA, 29 July 2025 (IICA) – The Government of the Republic of Honduras has officially announced its nomination of Laura Suazo, Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, for the position of Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
Honduran Foreign Minister Javier Bu Soto made the announcement in Tegucigalpa and formalized it by way of an official letter to IICA. In addition to Secretary Suazo, the Minister was joined by the diplomatic corps accredited to that Central American country when announcing the nomination.
Suazo, the first woman ever to serve as Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, has a wealth of experience contributing to the agriculture sector in her country, states the letter addressed to IICA.
An agricultural engineer, Suazo specialized in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano. She holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural Education and Rural Sociology from Louisiana State University in the United States, and a Doctorate (PhD) in Agricultural Extension with a specialization in International Agriculture and Environmental Sociology from Cornell University in New York.
At the start of her professional career, Secretary Suazo was an IICA intern at the Headquarters of the specialized agency for agricultural and rural development, located in Costa Rica.
In her position in the Honduran government, Secretary Suazo led the preparation and implementation of the 2023-2043 State Policy for the Agriculture Sector of Honduras (PESAH), which includes initiatives related to knowledge management, institutional strengthening, inclusive financing, commercialization and agricultural logistics.
She also established a municipal agricultural extension program in 100 municipalities of the Central American Dry Corridor region. She also promoted other initiatives, such as the Coffee Bonus, Productive Technological Bonus and Livestock Bonus for the benefit of more than 600 thousand small-scale producers in her country.
The new IICA Director General will be elected by the ministers of Agriculture of the 34 member countries of the Americas in November, during the meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the specialized hemispheric agency’s main governing body.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
