Guyana’s agriculture sector makes valuable contributions to enrich IICA’s road map
Georgetown, 20 March 2018. A consultation process organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) enabled 38 stakeholders in Guyana to participate in the preparation of the Institute’s 2018-2022 Medium-term Plan (MTP), which will guide the work conducted by this international organization for the benefit of local agriculture. Producers, agro-processors, and representatives of Guyana’s public, private and academic sectors participated in this process.
The stakeholders agreed that IICA’s contributions should focus on the areas of rural well-being, competitiveness, agribusiness, agricultural health, food safety and climate change. They added that IICA should strengthen horizontal and South-South cooperation, increase collaboration with other partners to broaden the impact of results, and engage in regional exchanges in order to support technology transfer and adaptation.
“The overall purpose of IICA, as the specialized agency of the Inter-American system for agriculture, is to support the efforts of its Member States to achieve a competitive and sustainable agricultural sector that fosters rural well-being and inclusiveness,” stated Nisa Surujbally, Program Manager for Agriculture and Industry of the CARICOM Secretariat.
The administrator of the Women’s Agro-processors Development Network (WADN), Jennifer Spencer, stated that the network benefited from IICA’s interventions, which had allowed for scaling up their operations. She added that the WADN was certain that the new MTP would be inclusive and that additional support was forthcoming.
Wilmot Garnett, IICA Representative in Guyana, underscored the need for active participation by all stakeholders in the development of the new MTP, which would reinforce IICA’s standing as a partner of choice for agricultural development in the hemisphere. “This process ensures inclusiveness and ownership by all partners and beneficiaries,” he stated.
The Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, stated that the participants’ recommendations would be crucial in the development of a road map aimed at meeting country needs.
“When we understand the way our countries think and what their priorities are, we are able to efficiently target and distribute our resources, while working together to address national demands. This process guarantees IICA’s institutional strengthening moving forward,” he stated.
On the other hand, Diego Montenegro, Director of Management and Regional Integration of IICA, stated that the participatory preparation of the new MTP began with an internal consultation process involving Institute personnel. The second phase consists of a broad consultation process with counterparts that work with IICA’s Delegations.
“In addition to the consultation processes currently underway in each of the Member States, we have identified the Delegations that work closely with the regional integration mechanisms, and have requested their input in order to develop the MTP’s regional scope,” he stated.
This consultation process will be replicated in all other IICA Member States, to ensure that each country’s vision is taken into account in the preparation of national and regional plans.
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Wilmott Garnett, IICA’s Representative in Guyana.