With this new alliance, PepsiCo joins the “Living Soils of the Americas”, program designed to improve rural well-being, productivity, and food security while respecting environmental limits and making rational use of natural resources.
Mexico City, October 28, 2021 (PepsiCo/IICA).– PepsiCo, leading global food and beverage company, announced a partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to combat soil degradation in Latin America and the Caribbean, to contribute to sustainable agri-food production in the countries of the region.
In the presence of scientist Rattan Lal, the world-leading authority on soil science – who served as a witness of honor -, Paula Santilli, CEO of PepsiCo Latin America, and Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, signed a Memorandum of Understanding that lays the foundation for collaboration on climate change, gender, food security, innovation and technology, among other aspects.
The Director General of IICA stressed the importance of promoting partnerships between the public and private sectors to achieve transformations in agri-food systems, to increase their resilience, and improve the quality of life in rural communities. “In the context of post-pandemic recovery, it is essential to build networks and establish strategic alliances between governments, businesses, and international organizations. This is the only way to address the challenges facing a region like ours, guarantor of world food security and reserve of a large part of the world’s natural resources and biodiversity,” said Otero when he signed the agreement.
With this new alliance, PepsiCo joins the “Living Soils of the Americas”, program designed to improve rural well-being, productivity, and food security while respecting environmental limits and making rational use of natural resources. PepsiCo will provide technical and financial support to this international initiative, announced in December 2020, by the IICA and the Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (C-MASC) at Ohio State University, directed by Professor Lal.
“The partnership we are announcing today with IICA responds to our commitment at PepsiCo to help build a sustainable food system. Agriculture is both the starting point for this important transformation, the heart of our business and the livelihood of tens of thousands of farmers and their families,” said Santilli after signing the agreement.
Lal, IICA goodwill ambassador and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, stated that “soil health is at the heart of agriculture; without healthy soils, agriculture cannot flourish and agriculture, of course, is the heart of human well-being from all aspects. If soil quality is improved, that automatically leads to an improvement in the health of animals, people, ecosystems and planetary processes.”
About PepsiCo Latin America
PepsiCo Latin America comprises beverage, food, and snack businesses in 34 emerging and developing markets and partnerships with 13 bottling partners. Our business in the region generates more than 70,000 direct jobs and has more than 40 manufacturing facilities and more than 24,000 sales routes.
About IICA
IICA is the specialized agency for agriculture in the Inter-American system, with a mission to encourage, promote and support its 34 Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.
More information:
PepsiCo:
Daniela Castillo, JeffreyGroup
dcastillo@jeffreygroup.com
Institutional Communication Division of the IICA:
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
