IICA and CIRAD renew ties to promote agriculture and rural development in LAC

San Jose, March 31, 2015 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) have signed a new agreement to support the development of agricultural and rural territories in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

The Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos, signed the agreement with the President and Director of CIRAD, Michel Eddi, in Montpellier, France during a visit to strengthen IICA's ties with its European partners.

The organizations agreed to work on such issues as agricultural policy analysis and planning, technology generation and transfer, organization for rural development, trade and agroindustry and agricultural health.

Partners since 1989

IICA and CIRAD have been working together for 26 years. One of the initiatives they have pursued jointly is the Regional Cooperative Program for the Technological Development and Modernization of Coffee Cultivation (PROMECAFÉ), founded in 1979 and receiving CIRAD support since 1980.

This program promotes modernization and sustainable development of coffee farming in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Jaques Avelino, IICA associate personnel from CIRAD, is one of the participants in the initiative.

“We have enjoyed very productive cooperation in such fields as rural agroindustry and local agrifood systems, and we have worked on chain competitiveness, rural development and family agriculture,” explained Francois Boucher, IICA specialist in rural agroindustry and a CIRAD researcher at the IICA office in Mexico.

Another initiative the two institutions have been promoting together is the Rural Agroindustrial Development Program (PRODAR) for LAC, that has now set up 15 national networks and research programs in this region.

The IICA-CIRAD-CATIE consortium was first organized in Chiapas, Mexico to take part in the Integrated and Sustainable Social Development Project (PRODESIS) of the European Union, which strengthened agroindustries and rural micro-enterprises.

Boucher especially emphasized the development of the Chains and Dialogue for Action (CADIAC) methodology, an instrument that promotes links between producers and markets by means of design, analysis and evaluation of public policies, strengthening and modernizing institutions and skills building.

More information:
evangelina.beltran@iica.int
francois.boucher@iica.int