“The Soul of Rurality”: book commemorating IICA’s 80 years of existence underscores the value and importance of silent leadership for agriculture and food security
San Jose, 11 October 2022 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has launched the book “The Soul of Rurality” as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations. The book recounts the stories of the men and women who are making a difference in rural areas of the Americas and whose work is pivotal in ensuring the planet’s food and nutritional security, as well as its environmental sustainability.
With a view to providing “80 profiles for 80 years of IICA”, the commemorative book compiles stories on the Leaders of Rurality of the Americas, which IICA has been releasing since May 2021. The features describe why these people’s contribution is key to sustainable development and how their work in rural areas is building bridges between rural and urban areas in the countries of the region”. These leaders have been bestowed with the “Soul of Rurality” award, which gives the book its name.
Publication of these stories by the Institute have been well received in traditional and social media across the world, mentions that have added further value to the award.
The document, which is available in digital format online in English and in Spanish, also includes portraits on the founders and Directors Emeritus of IICA, since its creation in 1942; as well as on the Institute’s Goodwill Ambassadors; the outstanding academics that have been named as IICA Chairs; and the visual artists featured in IICA’s AgroArt Virtual Museum, which disseminates artistic expressions of the rural areas of the Americas.
Not be excluded are bios on the most representative singers and singer-songwriters of the musical tribute that IICA organized during the most difficult moments of the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage producers and all the individuals in the agricultural chain who continued working and bringing food to the world.
“Here are profiles of outstanding men and women who are contributing to food system transformation; working with and supporting the causes of the Institute to increase public awareness and foster sustainable development, based on key areas of IICA’s agenda; or that are helping to improve the standard of living in the rural areas of the Americas”, said the Institute’s Director General, Manuel Otero.
He maintained that, “We have the duty and responsibility to demonstrate that agriculture is, above all else, a key part of the solution to the overlapping health, environmental, social and economic crises that threaten the world”.
Among other objectives, the “IICA of Open Doors” program seeks to introduce agricultural transformation to the new generations; to intensively promote collective action among countries in the hemisphere, in a bid to foster more sustainable, productive and inclusive agriculture; and to establish close relations with regions of the world, such as Africa – a continent that like the Americas is called on to be one of the bread baskets of the planet. These are the pillars of a bridge that connects the solid 80-year history of the Institute to the near future.
“As we celebrate these first 80 years of life, let us continue paving the way to the 100th anniversary of IICA – a great and noble institution that is increasingly necessary and relevant”, stressed the Director General.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int