CABI and IICA sign formal agreement to collaborate more on sustainable agricultural development

CABI and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agricultural (IICA) have signed an agreement to collaborate more on sustainable development, science and technology through joint projects in benefitting Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see both parties working together on regional and international projects of common interest relating food security and safety, bioeconomy, biological control, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Other areas of collaboration will centre around sustainable agricultural production and environmental issues. These include the rational use of pesticides, technology transfer and the adoption of digital tools such as those within the PlantwisePlus Digital Toolkit.

For example, the digital tools include the CABI BioProtection Portal which is the largest free global resource of country-registered biocontrol and biopesticide products with information on how to use them.

Responds to the needs identified in communities

An overarching commitment within the MoU is for CABI and the IICA to ensure that their collaboration responds to the needs identified in communities and includes men, women, youth, and indigenous peoples in sustainable agricultural production.
Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann, CABI’s Executive Director, Global Operations, said, ″The agreement will also seek to obtain financing to help implement lines of work previously identified and of mutual interest, with the aim of increasing the sustainability of the processes applied by small producers and farming communities.″

Most recently, CABI and the IICA collaborated, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica, the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and the International Organisation for Biological Control (IOBC), to organize the Third International Congress of Biological Control (ICBC3).

The Congress called for greater understanding and collaboration on biological control in a national and international policy context to sustainably fight food security and food safety threatening crop pests and diseases.

Scientists from CABI and the IICA, as well as those from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), also worked together on the ‘State of the Field for Research on Agrifood Systems’ report, published by The Juno Evidence Alliance.

This report highlighted that the most climate-vulnerable countries with the highest hunger rates are significantly under-represented in agrifood research – sparking a need for urgent action and increased investments to redress this imbalance.

Sustainable and equitable agricultural development

Dr Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, said, ″Latin America and the Caribbean are regions with a wide range of crops and livestock which are farmed – particularly coffee and cocoa – and are sensitive to the diverse climate, high biodiversity, and fragile environments.

″IICA sets out in its Medium-Term Plan how cooperation efforts, including those with CABI, will focus on strengthening public and private institutional capacities and on supporting the integration mechanism required to achieve sustainable and equitable agricultural development.″

Dr Yelitza Colmenarez, CABI Centre Director, Brazil, and Harold Gamboa, IICA’s specialist from its Innovation and Bioeconomy Programme, will work together to ensure that the activities under the MoU are carried out in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In June 2023, Dr Colmenarez attend the first Pan-American Bioinputs Forum aimed at increasing sustainable production in agriculture and said biological control is a key strategy for pest and disease management in the context of sustainable agricultural production.

The event, which was co-organized by IICA, explored issues around the registration of Bioproducts and the access of genetic resources and biological controls agents for crop pests and diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean.