The conference sought to provide a forum to facilitate discussion, drive collective action and reinforce the region’s role as a guarantor of global food security and environmental sustainability, in a world that is currently grappling with converging crises and uncertainty.

The meeting of ministers, which opened with an appeal to strengthen the role of the hemisphere in guaranteeing global food security and environmental sustainability within the context of the climate and economic crises, will end on Thursday, 5 October.

Agriculture ministers of the Americas explained to representatives of IDB, CAF and the World Bank that support mechanisms are required for family farming, to incorporate advanced water management and soil regeneration practices, among others that foster sustainability. 

Eodora Méndez, who has tirelessly championed the well-being of Honduras’ small farmers; Rosamund Benn, a farmer who has encouraged dozens of rural women in Guyana to process and market their crops to improve their income and standard of living; and Alfredo Carrasco, a promotor of inclusive and integrative agriculture in Chile, were the three farmers honored at the meeting.

The recommendation is made in The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas 2023-2024, a report prepared by the three institutions and presented in Costa Rica during the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the hemisphere.

Lal was addressing the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas at IICA Headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica.