To improve the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector
IICA intends to promote technological, organizational and human innovation to enhance competitiveness, increase production and help improve the operation of agricultural markets in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. These efforts are focus on small and medium-scale agricultural producers, who have limited access to markets.

Activities:
1. More than 30 instruments were validated as part of an IICA agribusiness toolbox, which strengthened the capabilities of 30 producers’ organizations in Ecuador, Paraguay and Guatemala; in addition, approximately 5000 agriculture sector stakeholders received training in business management, aggregation of value and promotion of exports, among other topics. 2. Thanks to the strengthening of the Institute’s links with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Codex Alimentarius, its member countries were able to participate in virtual meetings, forums and committees in which plant health and food safety standards were discussed and approved. 3. Working with its strategic partners, IICA implemented projects to create two virtual schools for food and plant health inspectors in the Central and Southern regions. 4. The Institute supported field operations in Mexico aimed at maintaining the country’s phytosanitary status as an area free of the Mediterranean fruit fly; in Paraguay, efforts were aimed at restoring the country’s status as an area free from foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination; and in Central America, the focus was on combating coffee leaf rust. 5. The Market Information Organization of the Americas (MIOA), made up of 33 countries, was consolidated as a hemispheric network. Fourteen officials from the Caribbean region received training in the collection, analysis and dissemination of information on agricultural prices and markets. 6. Five Caribbean countries launched processes aimed at improving the competitiveness of priority agrifood chains after the support of IICA to strengthen their capabilities, promote dialogue, among others. 7. Promotion of changes in policies on agricultural insurance in Colombia, Haiti, Paraguay and Peru.

www.iica.int

Beneficiaries:
55 officials from18 Latin American Countries. Producers organizations and stakeholders, Phitosanitary services, MIOA, and regional organizations like Standing Veterinary Committee, Plant Health Committee and the Central American Agricultural Council.

Partners and financing:
International Organizations: IPPC, OIE, Codex Alimentarius, PAHO, Governments of USA, Mexico, Canada, Ecuador, Paraguay, Central America and Caribbean.

Information available in Spanish