The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) celebrated its first 80 years of existence with the official opening of the Plaza of Agriculture of the Americas, a public space constructed at the front of the organization’s headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The new plaza, which was declared a site of public interest by the Government of Costa Rica, seeks to highlight the value of agriculture, the rural world and biodiversity in an urban setting.
The commemoration ceremony was attended by Stephan Brunner, Vice President of Costa Rica; Lydia María Peralta, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship; Jannixia Villalobos, Vice Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications; Rolando Méndez; Mayor of Vázquez de Coronado; Saboto Caesar, Minister of Agriculture of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA; as well as numerous specially invited guests, including parliamentarians from Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of international organizations, private sector executives and residents of Vásquez de Coronado – the canton where the Institute’s headquarters is located.
The plaza was launched as one of the activities to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the organization whose mission is to spur agricultural and rural development in the hemisphere. IICA was established on 7 October 1942, under the name Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences. The ceremony also launched “The Soul of Rurality”, a book that recounts stories of the men and women who are making a difference in rural areas of the Americas, while also paying tribute to the Directors General Emeritus of IICA.
The ceremony recognized the Institute’s founder, Henry Wallace, who was a U.S. agronomist that also once served as his country’s Secretary of Agriculture and Vice-President. Moreover, the book paid tribute to former IICA Directors General Armando Samper, José Emilio Araujo, Francisco Morillo, Martín Piñeiro, Carlos Aquino, Chelston Brathwaite and Víctor Villalobos.
