What is IICA?

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is the international organization of the Americas specializing in agriculture and rural well-being. It is the only agency of the Inter-American System focused on those areas that provides technical cooperation, innovation and specialized knowledge to promote the competitive and sustainable development of agriculture in the Americas and the improvement of the life of rural inhabitants in its member countries.

Since its founding, in 1942, IICA has provided its Member States the vast experience it has gained in technical cooperation in the areas of technology and innovation for agriculture, agricultural health and food safety, agribusiness, agricultural trade, rural development and training.

The Institute’s efforts are currently geared to helping its Member States achieve sustainable, competitive and inclusive agriculture by means of actions focused on four strategic objectives: 1) improving the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector; 2) strengthening agriculture’s contribution to the development of territories and rural well-being; 3) enhancing agriculture’s capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change and make better use of natural resources; and, 4) improving agriculture’s contribution to food security.

IICA works very closely with the ministries of agriculture of its 34 Member States, providing support on issues of common concern through actions carried out at the hemispheric, regional and national levels. The Institute’s highest-level governing body is the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the forum of ministers responsible for the sector. IICA also operates the secretariat of the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture within the framework of the Summits of the Americas Process.