IICA joins Argentina in the fight against food insecurity and health problems in the wichis communities of Salta

Buenos Aires, 27 February 2020 (IICA). Caio Rocha, Representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Argentina, led a technical mission to the Salta Province to join in local and national government efforts to tackle the social and health emergency affecting the San Victoria Este municipality and other communities in the area.

The government of President Alberto Fernández instituted the Mesa Federal del Agua Social, in this northern Argentina region. The Mesa is a federal board tasked with devising a healthcare and nutrition program for more than 40,000 members of the wichis - an ethnic indigenous community living in the Chaco Central region.

This official program will install 14 wells to feed more than 100 reservoirs, given that the local communities have been affected by a lack of water, which has led to illness and malnutrition. 

Carolina Pivetta, Territorial Development Specialist in the IICA Argentina Delegation, and Special Advisor, Ignacio Hernaiz, also participated in the mission, which took place between 19 – 21 February and included visits and meetings in the provincial capital and in San Victoria Este.

The mission resulted from a recent meeting in Buenos Aires between IICA’s Director General, Manuel Otero, and Argentina’s Minister of Social Development, Daniel Arroyo, in which they discussed lines of action for the technical cooperation of the specialized agency for agricultural and rural development.

In welcoming the IICA team to Salta, Martín De los Ríos, Minister of Production and Sustainable Development, outlined the sociosanitary emergency situation that has been declared in the departments of Orán, San Martín and Rivadavia.

Caio Rocha expressed IICA’s willingness to support the efforts of the national and provincial governments to devise a plan of action for the region and other departments in the northern Argentina province, in keeping with the government’s strategies.

The IICA delegation met with technical personnel from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INSTA), the Secretariat of Family Farming (SAF) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the PROHUERTA Program, and held discussions with the Mayor of San Victoria Este, Rojerio Nerón, and his staff.

The team also spoke with young people from the group, Guardianes del Monte (Guardians of the Land), and toured croplands, particularly an area belonging to the wichi community. It also established contact with the Mesa de Gestión Local – the Local Management Council - of Santa Victoria Este, which is comprised of community organizations that are collaborating in the region.

IICA is already undertaking initiatives in this region of Argentina, where inhabitants are living in extremely precarious conditions. For example, the hemispheric organization is jointly implementing the “Territorial Promotors of Family Farming Health” project with the Family Farming Coordination Office of SENASA (the National Service of Agrifood Health and Quality).

More information:  

Sonia Novello, Information and Communication Specialist. 
sonia.novello@iica.int