Ministers propose creation of strategy to promote innovation in agriculture

San José, Costa Rica, 21 de octubre, 2011 (IICA). The creation of a strategy to promote innovation in agriculture, with a view to making it more competitive, sustainable, and inclusive, was one of the main actions called for during the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2011, which ended today in Costa Rica.

The principal objective of the hemispheric meeting was to propose ways of promoting and strengthening innovation in agriculture, so the sector can meet challenges like food security and the impact of climate change in the hemisphere.

The signing of the Declaration of Ministers of Agriculture San José 2011 was the final act of the three-day meeting, which was sponsored by the Government of Costa Rica and organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

IICA’s member countries pledged to promote the transformation of their agricultural research institutions into national agricultural innovation systems. They will also promote the conversion of networks into North-South and South-South cooperatives for innovation, like the Network for the Management of Innovation in the Agrifood Sector that was created this year.

The full text of the declaration can be downloaded from IICA’s website, www.iica.int.

On the last day of the meeting, IICA and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that they are to work on a joint hemispheric agenda. The first issue they intend to address is the rise in, and volatility of, food prices and inputs worldwide.

“IICA and FAO are the two organizations in the region whose objectives are most closely aligned. In view of the new challenges, we reaffirm our commitment to work together and meet the need for food security in the hemisphere,” said Víctor M. Villalobos, the Director General of the Institute.

According to the Director-General elect of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, the relationship that his organization has maintained with IICA for the last 50 years can be strengthened and made more complementary for the benefit of agriculture in the Americas.

“The economies of millions of communities in our region depend on the crops that are planted, harvested and consumed, and provide a stimulus for the rural territories,” the Director-General elect of FAO said.

Villalobos and Graziano da Silva also announced that IICA and FAO would be optimizing the coverage of agricultural needs in the Caribbean.

For more information, contact: 
patricia.leon@iica.int
rbrenes@mag.go.cr