The President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, and the Director General of IICA, Muhammad Ibrahim.
Georgetown, June 10, 2026 (IICA) – Starting this year, Guyana will host a center of excellence in innovation, technology transfer, and agricultural training that will benefit the entire Caribbean, thanks to a cooperation project led by the governments of Brazil and Guyana in partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
Details of the project, which will be launched in the second half of 2026, were presented to Guyana’s President, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, by the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha; the Executive Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Cleber Soares; and IICA’s Director General, Muhammad Ibrahim, during a meeting in Georgetown.
“This project aims to position Guyana as a major food supplier for the entire Caribbean, so I am very pleased to deepen our cooperative relationship with Brazil and with IICA. “The mission is to accelerate the transformation of agriculture in Guyana and the region through new technologies that create value, improve climate resilience, produce seeds, and build a technical ecosystem that strengthens our food security,” said Irfaan Ali.
The president referred to Brazil’s track record, noting that over the past 50 years the country underwent an agricultural revolution that transformed it from a nation that imported much of the food it consumed into a powerhouse that exports to 190 countries. He also highlighted IICA’s work and emphasized that his country takes pride in the fact that Guyanese scientist Muhammad Ibrahim leads the hemispheric agricultural development organization.
The formal agreement that will enable the launch of the Hub for Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean in the second half of 2026 was signed by Mustapha, Soares, and Ibrahim.
The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), a key player in the extraordinary transformation process that has turned Brazil into an agri-food powerhouse over the past few decades, will lead the hub’s scientific component, which will mark a milestone in technical cooperation between Brazil, IICA, and the Caribbean.
EMBRAPA is a public institution of excellence, with 40 research centers and some 2,400 professionals throughout Brazil.
The hub’s work will focus on addressing constraints on productivity, vulnerability to extreme weather events, and the limited regional capacity of Caribbean countries for research, innovation, and technology transfer. Another priority will be strengthening regional capacities to address transboundary pests and diseases that affect animal and plant production.
Thus, Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, will serve as the operational base for a platform for technical cooperation, knowledge dissemination, and capacity building in the Caribbean, with a focus on leveraging Brazil’s development in tropical agriculture, which is a global benchmark.
One of the agreement’s objectives is to promote the training of Caribbean agricultural scientists and technicians at EMBRAPA, to facilitate the replication of knowledge in areas such as water management, integrated forest-agriculture-livestock systems, and the rehabilitation of degraded lands—all of which have been key to Brazil’s success story.
Cleber Soares, Executive Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock; Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture of Guyana; and Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General of IICA.
Guyana leads the agriculture and food security working group within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which launched the “25 by 2025” initiative—now extended to 2030—with the goal of increasing food production to reduce imports by 25%.
During their working visit to Georgetown, Ibrahim and Cleber Soares also met with CARICOM Secretary General Carla Barnett, with whom they discussed the details of the hub that will work to strengthen regional agriculture.
A practical response to challenges
“This is a very important day for agriculture in Guyana and the Caribbean,” noted Minister Zulfikar Mustapha during the signing ceremony, which was also attended by officials from both countries, foreign diplomats, representatives of international organizations, and IICA’s representative in Guyana, Wilmot Garnett.
Mustapha thanked the Brazilian government and IICA for their commitment to building a more resilient and food-secure Caribbean and emphasized that the establishment of the hub constitutes a practical response to the challenges facing regional agriculture, which include the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events and rising international food prices.
“Innovation in agriculture is no longer an option in the current context; it is essential for food security,” said the Guyanese minister. “This is an example of South-South cooperation and, also, the collective recognition that the future of agriculture depends on collaboration between countries and on technologies reaching farmers,” he added.
On behalf of the Brazilian government, Cleber Soares outlined how Brazil, 50 years ago, became a major food exporter. “How did this happen? Thanks to the development of science, technology, and innovation, which served to increase productivity and production while protecting the environment. “We firmly believe in the importance of international cooperation, and that is why it is a pleasure and an honor for us to support the Caribbean region and recognize IICA’s leadership on the continent,” he stated.
Ibrahim explained that IICA recognizes the enormous diversity of agriculture and agri-food systems in the countries of the Americas and argued that the Caribbean needs to strengthen the resilience of its agriculture with solutions specifically adapted to tropical production systems.
CARICOM Secretary General, Carla Barnett, and the Director General of IICA, Mohammad Ibrahim.
“Brazil has vast experience and agroecological conditions and ecosystems that are often similar. And EMBRAPA is a leader due to its technical expertise in areas such as precision agriculture, gene editing, and programs that provide incentives for farmers who use low-carbon production practices,” he explained.
The Director General of IICA also presented the guidelines of the agency’s 2026–2030 Medium-Term Plan, which is currently under development and will prioritize science, technology, and innovation to enhance agricultural productivity and resilience.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
