Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is the agriculture specialized organism of the Inter-American system that supports the efforts of its Members to achieve the agricultural development and the rural welfare.

We cooperate through close and permanent work with our 34 Member States, whose needs we meet in a convenient manner. Without a doubt, our most valuable asset is the close relationship we have with the beneficiaries of our work. We have extensive experience in topics such as technology and innovation for agriculture, agricultural health, food quality and safety, international agricultural trade, family farming, rural development, natural resource management and bioeconomy.

Mission

To stimulate, promote and support the efforts of the Member States in order to achieve their agricultural development and the rural welfare through the international technical cooperation of excellence.

Vision

The IICA’s vision is to be a modern institution and efficiently supported by a platform of human resources and processes capable of mobilizing the expertise available in the region and the world to achieve a competitive agriculture, inclusive and sustainable, which take advantage of the opportunities to contribute to the economic growth and development and promotes a more rural well-being and a sustainable management of its natural capital.

Strategic objectives

The four strategic objectives organize and systematize the development strategies of the countries and, consequently, the technical cooperation actions of IICA. They are as follows:

• To increase the contributions of the agricultural sector to the economic growth and sustainable development.
• To contribute to the well-being of all residents of the rural territory.
• To improve the international and regional trade of the countries of the region.
• To increase the resilience of rural territories and agricultural systems to extreme events.

The IICA prioritizes the triangular cooperation and the south-south cooperation., and they are oriented to efficiency, flexibility, decentralization, collaborative work and the insertion in networks, focused in processes and based in the mobilization of human, institutional, and financial resources.

Their roadmap is based on five hemispheric programs, through which IICA's vision is unified, institutional programmatic action is focused on the identification of cooperation actions through the design and implementation of projects, and technical advice and support is provided to governments and other social and economic actors in agriculture and rural life of the American continent.

The five hemispheric programs are:

1. Bioeconomy and Productive Development.
2. Territorial Development and Family Farming.
3. International Trade and Regional Integration.
4. Climate Change, Natural Resources and Productive Risk Management.
5. Animal and Plant Health, Food Safety and Quality.

Contact

(+506) 2216 0222

iicahq@iica.int

References

https://www.iica.int