Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Manuel Otero, the Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), have committed to redouble joint efforts for the benefit of the Mexican agriculture sector.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica (MAG), with the support of IICA, spearheaded an initiative to increase the competitiveness of smallholder cocoa farmers in the Northern Huetar, Caribbean Huetar and Brunca regions.

Programs in both organizations will focus on promoting inclusion and empowerment through initiatives targeting vulnerable communities, such as migrants, women and young people from rural areas, people of African descent, and indigenous peoples. Katie Taylor, Executive Director of PADF, and Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA discussed joint actions in the Central American Dry Corridor, Haiti and Colombia.

Productivity and competitiveness will be fostered through the implementation of disruptive technologies, such as drones, sensors, precision agriculture, Big Data, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, among other technologies.

The agenda will focus on health and safety, the bioeconomy, rural development and gene editing, as agreed upon by an IDB delegation led by Pedro Martel, Chief of the credit institution’s Environment, Rural Development and Disaster Risk Management Division, and a team led by Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA.

International experts and government officials from Argentina noted that gene editing is revolutionizing the biological sciences and affords valuable opportunities. They also agreed on the importance of communicating this progress in an efficient manner, in order to achieve a social consensus that would enable countries to enjoy and benefit from these developments.