IICA and Syngenta turn to science to solve the challenges facing agriculture

San José, 24 January 2021 (IICA) - The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Syngenta, which work together to guarantee food production and improve living conditions in rural areas, are seeking new areas of collaboration to broaden the impact of their work in the hemisphere.

Over the past two years of fruitful, close collaboration to increase well-being in the agriculture sector, IICA and Syngenta have made important achievements in knowledge transfer on seeds, pest and disease control, training in technical standards and the transformation of agrifood systems, particularly in Central America. The two entities are now aiming to expand these and other benefits to other regions of the hemisphere.

“We must prioritize this partnership, putting together a portfolio of projects related to living soils, digital agriculture, cooperative undertakings and many other topics, in which I am certain we can generate ideas together with Syngenta. At IICA, we seek to establish impactful partnerships that can translate into a better quality of life for our farmers”, explained Manuel Otero, Director General of the international organization.

“IICA is an institution that promotes coordinated work. In these new times, cooperation is of the utmost importance to lay the foundation for a new agriculture sector”, he added.

“There is great potential to capitalize on our collaboration with IICA to capture all of the knowledge that is being generated and that will be generated and incorporate it into the joint projects with our partners”, noted Roberto Vega, Global Value Chain Head for Syngenta.

Living Soils

As part of the efforts undertaken by both IICA and Syngenta to foster more sustainable agriculture, the company joined the “Living Soils of the Americas” initiative, which the Institute is carrying out together with The Ohio State University’s Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (C-MASC), directed by World Food Prize winner Dr. Rattan Lal. Private sector companies such as Bayer and PepsiCo are also supporting the initiative.

“Living Soils of the Americas” is a program that seeks to serve as a bridge between science and public policies aimed at restoring and protecting soils in the Americas, whose degradation threatens the capacity of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to guarantee global food security.

The initiative is designed to increase rural well-being, productivity and food security while respecting environmental limits and making rational use of natural resources.

“Governments, research centers and the private sector can’t provide all the answers on their own, but rather by working together. One of the areas in which we have been conducting joint work with Syngenta is living soils, because we know they can offer our producers and Ministers of Agriculture science-based solutions”, stated Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General of IICA.

As part of their partnership, the entities are constantly exploring new areas of opportunity to foster and intensify efforts aimed at achieving sustainable agriculture in the Americas, for the benefit of farmers, society as a whole, and nature, today and in the future.

More information:

Institutional Communication Division

comunicacion.institucional@iica.int