Castries, St. Lucia, July 2, 2026 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in partnership with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE), launched a high-level technical mission to Saint Lucia to support the Government’s efforts to modernise and transform the country’s agricultural sector.
The week-long mission, undertaken at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Sustainable Development, brings together senior technical specialists from IICA and CATIE to work alongside government officials and other stakeholders in developing a strategic roadmap for the sector. Through technical working sessions and field visits, the team evaluated institutional strengthening, crop productivity and expansion possibilities for priority commodities of the Ministry, agricultural innovation, climate resilience, and human resource development.
The delegation includes Dowlat Budhram, Advisor to the Director General of IICA; Elizabeth Johnson, International Specialist in Crop Production and Innovation with the IICA Delegation in Barbados; Alejandro Solis, Director of Outreach and Strategic Partnerships at CATIE; and Rolando Cerda, Leader of Agroforestry and Genetic Improvement of Coffee and Cocoa at CATIE.
In a virtual address, IICA Director General, Muhammad Ibrahim, said the mission represents an opportunity to align Saint Lucia’s agricultural transformation agenda with regional priorities while laying the foundation for long-term implementation.
“We hope to come up with a strategy that aligns with the OECS FAST strategy to identify strategic areas where we continue to work and to support. It is important that we look from the national perspective but we also want to identify the regional issues that we need to focus on in terms of trade, transboundary pests and diseases, and issues related to soil and water. We are prepared to continue working with you to provide the solutions that are needed,” Ibrahim said.
The mission follows discussions between IICA and the Government of Saint Lucia after Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Sustainable Development, Lisa Jawahir, attended the inauguration of the Director General earlier this year.
Describing the initiative as the beginning of a transformational chapter for the country’s agriculture sector, Jawahir said Saint Lucia’s Green Revolution will depend on strong international partnerships.
“It became immediately clear to me that Saint Lucia could not continue to attempt to achieve our ambitious agenda of transformation if we continue to work in isolation. If we are serious about delivering our Green Revolution, we needed more financial resources, we needed technical excellence, we needed institutional strengthening, we needed world-class partnerships and above all we needed organisations like IICA and CATIE walking alongside us, not simply as development partners but as strategic allies in building the future of agriculture,” she said.
IICA Representative in the Eastern Caribbean States, Gregg Rawlins, said the mission also provides an opportunity to strengthen collaboration between IICA, CATIE and the Government of Saint Lucia while ensuring that technical cooperation remains aligned with the country’s priorities.
“This alignment would ensure that our work is well integrated with that of the Ministry and contributes to improved cooperation, enhanced collaboration and achieves greater impact on the performance of the agricultural sector,” Rawlins said.
Curt Delice, Director of Operations and Regional Integration at IICA Headquarters, reaffirmed the Institute’s commitment to supporting the Ministry beyond the development of the strategy.
“We pledge our full support in helping to formulate a holistic strategy but also in accompanying the Ministry down the road with the execution of the various actions that would stem from the strategy,” Delice said.
The mission builds on more than four decades of IICA’s technical cooperation in Saint Lucia and is expected to produce a strategic roadmap to guide future collaboration between IICA, CATIE and the Government, strengthening food security, agricultural productivity and the long-term resilience of the sector.
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