In the face of climate change and economic crisis, Americas agricultural ministers have stressed the need for concerted effort to ensure food security and boost agriculture’s role in development.
They anticipate the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, held this week in San José, Costa Rica, will be a terrific chance to collaborate on sustainability and exchange expertise and successes.
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Headquarters will host the hemispheric ministers’ meeting from October 3 to 5. Other attendees will include top government and international agency leaders, famous academics, and production and processing industry executives.
Presidents Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana and Laurentino Cortizo of Panama will speak during the opening ceremony.
The COP 28 opening session will feature messages from Marian Almheiri, Minister of the Environment of the United Arab Emirates, Terry Branstad, President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Víctor Carvajal, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica, and IICA Director General Manuel Otero.
The event’s slogan is “A Hemispheric Partnership for Food Security and Sustainable Development,” and the ministers stressed the need for strategic public-private partnerships and technical cooperation to build more resilient and productive agriculture.
Uruguayan Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries Fernando Mattos, leader of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS), stressed the need for international cooperation and research and technology to solve the water situation.
Growing climatic issues threaten the planet’s water supply. Mattos said production systems must develop greater adaptability and resilience mechanisms.
Laura Suazo, Honduras’ Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock, stated, “It’s vital we don’t try to tackle these challenges alone, but rather work together to find effective solutions and learn from countries that develop successful practices. We must work together with stakeholders to affect the agrifood sector.”
Avinash Singh, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Agriculture, Land, and Fisheries, said the hemisphere’s skills and expertise were more beneficial together than individually to solve food security issues. “National, regional, and global partnerships are needed,” he said. “IICA promotes collective action, which is essential to the economic development of a region rich in natural resources and biodiversity.”
Addressing common issues
The Conference of Ministers of Agriculture 2023 will discuss social inclusion and family farming, climate change mitigation and adaptation, the water crisis, digital technology, agriculture research financing, and international trade.
During the conference, IICA’s highest governing body, the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), will convene. The 34 IABA member states are the Inter-American System’s agricultural and rural development organization.
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica, Víctor Carvajal, emphasized the importance of the conference for sharing knowledge and experiences to promote sustainable agriculture in the hemisphere amid global environmental, climate, and food security challenges.
“The meeting will showcase initiatives like Costa Rica’s NAMA sugarcane project, a positive example of sustainable agriculture innovation,” he said. This world-first project aims to become carbon neutral and positive in the medium future.
Guyana’s minister Zulfikar Mustapha echoed IICA’s proposal for a hemispheric food security and environmental sustainability alliance.
“Let’s use this partnership to speak with a single voice as a region and give it a strategic dimension, creating networks and platforms that strengthen our institutions.”
Guatemala’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food, Édgar De León, believed IICA’s planned hemispheric alliance would improve food security and environmental sustainability.
His counterparts should approach the collaboration “from a political standpoint, acting together as a region, and from a strategic standpoint, creating networks for work to strengthen us and support food insecurity sectors.”
Enrique Enrique Guardado Calderón, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of El Salvador and President pro tempore of the Central American Agricultural Council (CAC), mentioned the regional water situation. The meeting will also discuss IICA’s Hemispheric Water and Agriculture Initiative, introduced last July, which will help agriculture solve this significant issue.
“It’s imperative that the region’s agricultural agenda include water resources management and the formulation of innovative policies that facilitate the adoption of technologies for comprehensive water management for agriculture and the population,” he added.
IICA Director General Manuel Otero thought technological collaboration was essential to solving the planet’s complex predicament.
We must reorganize technical collaboration at the supranational level to address common issues. Our agricultural ministers are essential to achieving these goals, he said.
