Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Innovation

Urgent need for innovation in agriculture will define the agenda of the Meeting of Ministers

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

Costa Rica and IICA organize the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2011, in which countries will be challenged to modernize their innovation systems.

San José, Costa Rica, October 7, 2011 (IICA). To enable farmers in the Americas to increase their production, despite their limited quantity of natural resources, and to do it with quality, health and safety, countries must strengthen their national innovation systems and transmit that knowledge to agricultural farms.

The meeting of Gloria Abraham and Victor M. Villalobos with international journalists and correspondents took place in San Jose, on Octuber 7.

In addition to these challenges, small and medium-scale producers must transform their activities into businesses that generate economic and social well-being for rural territories, goals that can also be promoted through technological innovation.

With these prioritary objectives on the agenda, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica (MAG) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) outlined the details of the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2011, to be held in San Jose, on October 19-21.

Laura Chinchilla, President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Gloria Abraham, Minister of the MAG and Victor Villalobos, Director General of IICA, will participate in the inaugural ceremony of the Meeting.

Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director of Agricultural Development Policy and Statistics of the “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”, will give the keynote address. One of the strategic axes of this international organization is cooperation on agriculture as a means of overcoming poverty. Its approach has been aimed at the Asian and African regions.

Innovation: a vital issue

“The Meeting of Ministers addresses the significant issue of innovation, not only as a challenge, but also as an opportunity”, noted Gloria Abraham during a meeting with international journalists and correspondents, accompanied by the Director General of IICA.

Ms. Abraham emphasized that the Meeting of Ministers will be useful for suggesting new ways of carrying out agriculture activities, and as such, the hosting of the Meeting is of great benefit to Costa Rica.

“We are a country with a strong vocation for agriculture and agri-food activities and we have assumed the responsibility of developing agriculture with a new perspective, one in which we cease to consider primary production as the only end,” he added.

Victor M. Villalobos, for his part, stressed the urgent need of innovation: “We want the ministers to participate in the dialogue on how technological innovation will play an increasingly important role to ensure food security and adaptation of agriculture to climate change.”

Innovation for sustainable, competitive and inclusive agriculture will be the topic of the forum to be held on the second day of the Meeting, in which Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Ruben Echeverria, Director General of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Pedro Antonio Arraes Pereira, President of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Pamela Cox, Vice President for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank, and Hector Malarin, Chief of Environment, Rural Development and Disaster Risk Management, IDB will participate.

On that day, during the session of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the highest governing body of the Institute, the Ministers will discuss ways in which to strengthen the technical cooperation that IICA provides to its Member States.

Ms. Abraham and Mr. Villalobos highlighted the importance of joint development of agricultural research by the countries of the Americas, as well as the need to establish strategic partnerships between IICA and international organizations such as ECLAC and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to the benefit of regional agriculture.

On October 21, Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General-Elect of FAO, will address the participants. Also on that day, IICA, ECLAC and FAO will present a new joint report on the status and outlook for agriculture in the hemisphere.

According to the Director General of IICA, the Meeting will culminate with the signing of the San Jose Declaration of Ministers of Agriculture 2011, in which the countries will send a message on the possible contribution of technological innovation to achieve food security.

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

 

Share

Related news​

Buenos Aires, Argentina

April 23, 2025

Addressing future diplomats of Argentina’s Foreign Service, IICA Director General underscores the strategic value of the region’s agriculture sector and its key role for global food security

While on official mission in Argentina’s capital, Otero was invited to deliver a keynote speech at ISEN before a large and distinguished audience. He provided a detailed assessment of the challenges facing agriculture in the world and the opportunities for Argentina and other Latin American countries, in light of demands for accessible, high quality food by a growing population as well as the uncertainties posed by the current geopolitical context.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

San José, Costa Rica

April 21, 2025

Dawn Francis, sustainable agriculture and organic farming advocate and a model for small farmers in her native Dominica, is named an IICA Leader of Rurality of the Americas

Francis founded her own organization, EcoBalance Inc., which has organized training programs for farmers and implemented plans for equipment acquisition in the region. It also established a biodiversity center to teach primary and secondary students about agriculture and the environment.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

São Paulo, Brazil

April 10, 2025

Key players from the sustainable aviation fuel sector, addressing the Latin American Congress, maintained that if the region establishes clear rules, it has the potential to lead the world in SAF

The Americas has the potential to become a global leader in supplying sustainable aviation fuels, although to do so, it will need to establish clear rules and to harmonize its sustainability criteria governing the raw materials used, ensuring that processes are certifiable and science-based.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins