Rural leaders of the Americas call for unified action and urge governments to focus on territories and communities, given the key role they play in food security, sustainability, and job creation

San José, April 18, 2024 (IICA). Key sustainable development stakeholders recognized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) as Leaders of Rurality of the Americas called for collective action and urged governments, international agencies, the private sector and civil society to focus on rural areas and their communities, given the key role they play in strengthening food security, creating jobs, and protecting the environment.

At the “First Meeting of Leaders of Rurality of the Americas: Strengthening Rurality through Sustainable, Resilient and Inclusive Production,” organized by IICA at its Headquarters in San José, Costa Rica, some 40 leaders from more than 20 countries and every region of the continent shared experiences and created new networks aimed at boosting the already high impact of their work on rural life and the transformation of the agriculture sector.

Intended to facilitate the sharing of experiences and the creation of new networks, the meeting will last until April 20, with the participation of Leaders of Rurality of the Americas (14 men and 29 women) from 21 countries in the Americas (see list).

Among the heterogeneous group of people taking part are family farmers, medium-sized producers, peasants, members of indigenous communities, teachers, promoters of cooperatives, students, community leaders, agents of innovation and technology in rural areas, and activists who advocate for a leading role for women and young people in agricultural activities.

The meeting was opened by Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, and Fernando Mattos, Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay and current chair of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), IICA’s highest governing body, which is made up of the 34 Member States.

Both speakers underscored the urgent need to redouble efforts to reduce the current gaps between rural and urban areas, to tackle and change the situation in agriculture and in the rural areas of the Americas, which they described as the key continent as it is the guarantor of global food and nutrition security.

“I congratulate IICA for holding this meeting designed to demonstrate the true value of rural areas, where the conditions for development with which producers have to contend are very different from those in urban centers,” Mattos remarked, highlighting the disparities that exist in infrastructure, transportation, internet connectivity, education, and access to basic services such as health, drinking water, electricity, among others.

“Governments must pledge to narrow these gaps and improve access to essential public services linked to new technologies and connectivity, to create opportunities and allow these rural leaders to perform their work under sustainable systems that respect biodiversity. We are the guarantors of global food security,” Mattos concluded.

Meanwhile, the Director General of IICA highlighted the Institute's commitment and perseverance with technical cooperation actions designed to “care for rural areas and build bridges with urban centers to construct a new rurality. And for that we need rural leaders, a fact that IICA’s Inter-American Board of Agriculture has acknowledged,” he said.

“We have to show the world that agriculture and its products reflect the commitment of our people to the land and to sustainability. It is you who give life to rurality; you are visionaries, you have to overcome one difficulty after another, and IICA stands ready to help you by whatever means we have at our disposal,” Otero commented.

The head of IICA urged the Leaders of Rurality “to assume your role of leadership, have a vision for the future, be proactive and purposeful, forge ahead with the construction of networks and roadmaps for the development of the new rurality that the continent so urgently needs.”

On the first day of discussions at the meeting, the leaders interacted with experts on a range of topics. With Rattan Lal, head of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC) that bears his name at Ohio State University, they focused on the challenges involved in achieving sustainable development. With Ronald Guendel, Vice President of Smallholder Farming at Bayer Crop Science, they addressed aspects of sustainability and crop science issues. And with Álvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), they discussed the challenges of rural development.

“Smallholders produce 65% of the world’s rice, as well as a number of export crops, including cocoa, coffee, tea, rubber and palm oil. However, the economic viability of small farms in LAC is affected by their low selling power in the market, limited economic mobility, and frequent market disruptions,” explained Lal, who in his presentation addressed the role of smallholders in carbon sequestration in the Americas.

Before the first day of discussions, the participants went on a technical visit to Turrialba, an agricultural area of Costa Rica, to learn about innovative developments in relation to organic cocoa, organic sugar, sustainable goat production, and applied research processes for the validation of agricultural and digital technologies.

Their first stop was Nortico Cacao Farm, a family farm 70 km from San José where fine aroma cocoa is grown under an agroforestry model. The visitors engaged in discussions on entrepreneurship, crop diversification, plant breeding, marketing and value added, ecotourism, waste management, and climate adaptability.

At Assukkar, a processing plant whose operations are built around innovation, sustainability and competitiveness and which produces organic sugarcane, they learned about the processes involved in the production of granulated and solid evaporated cane juice with a social and environmental focus. Then, at the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), they visited an agrosilvopastoral module, a circular economy validation model for smallholders in the Central American Dry Corridor developed under the AGRO-INNOVA project that IICA has been implementing with several partners since 2019.

The Leaders of Rurality of the Americas will also engage in discussions on the opportunities offered by connectivity, and the financing of sustainable development, which will include a presentation by Florentino Fernández, Advisor for Mexico and Central America of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America. Brazil’s former Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, a world expert on the cooperative movement, will speak on the subject of associative enterprises.

The participants will also make two further visits to farms in Costa Rica, including Doka and La Lucha, to see more productive initiatives firsthand.

The Leaders of Rurality of the Americas initiative

The recognition of Leaders of Rurality is an initiative launched in 2021 by IICA to shine the spotlight on people who perform a unique dual role in their daily activities: they are both guarantors of food and nutrition security and guardians of the planet’s biodiversity.

The “Soul of Rurality” award, an initiative of the specialized agency of the Americas for agricultural development, recognizes men and women who leave their mark and make a difference in the rural areas of the Americas through their contribution to the production of healthy, accessible foodstuffs, the wellbeing and rootedness of the rural population, and environmental conservation.

The IICA initiative has allowed numerous leaders to increase their influence and their role as economic, productive and social leaders. It has also led to their receiving further recognition and invitations, and expanded their personal networks and the reach and impact of their work.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int