DIRECTOR General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Dr. Victor Villalobos, has said that coming out of discussions between himself and President Bharrat Jagdeo, the agency will re-orient its involvement in the region to have a more ‘on the ground’ approach to its work.
Villalobos, who became the new IICA DG in January ,after being elected late last year, said in an interview with this newspaper: “The reason why we are here is because this is the first meeting after we implemented and developed our middle term strategic plan and our strategic plan 2010 – 2020. This is the first meeting in which we discuss the content of these two documents.”
The meeting with regional ministers of agriculture and other officials took place at the Guyana International Conference Centre last week.
Dr. Villalobos said one other important decision at the meeting is the implementation of a special programme for the Caribbean countries. He said IICA and his administration are providing important attention to the region and of the agriculture of the region. “Therefore with the representatives of the 14 countries of Caricom [we] will analyse and discuss this special programme and implement it,” he said.
The meeting also discussed how IICA, as a hemispheric institution, could be more efficient; and this, he said, is more of an administrative and bureaucratic component of those discussions.
“We believe that agriculture will play a more and more important role, not only as an activity for food production, but also an important component for the development of our countries,” he said.
Dr. Villalobos said a high proportion of populations of Latin America and the Caribbean lives in rural areas “therefore the attention of the rural sector is very important.”
He said IICA is very pleased with the way ministers, particularly the Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, give such attention to this social component of agriculture. “And also President Bharrat Jagdeo, as a leader of agriculture of the region, is putting very important attention not just only to agriculture as a source of food production, but also as an activity that has to be in harmony with the environment,” said Dr. Villalobos.
He said that the Jagdeo Initiative is a guide “[by] which we will re-orient our work, not only for the region, but for the hemisphere.”
According to Dr. Villalobos, he sees the initiatives of the Minister Persaud, with regard to the growth of new crops or non-traditional crops to provide additional sources of income for the farmers, as very important for Guyana, and a step in the right direction. He said the Minister has been in contact with other countries and other institutions for enhancing productivity through new varieties that are resistant to pests, and for rescuing local crops by assisting farmers with the technology.
Villalobos said countries in the region are complete in terms of the theoretical aspects and documentation on what needs to be done for agriculture in each of the countries. But he said Jagdeo encouraged IICA to really work on the ground, muddy their hands and share the experiences, information and knowledge from other countries.
“He wants us to be more practical, he wants us to be along with the farmers, and not just doing only bureaucratic work and [writing] project documents. So I am very much in favour of what [President Jagdeo] has recommended to us, and that is part of the reason why we are here…to have answers to the questions,” he said.
Asked what the region needs to do to reduce its US$3 billion a year food import bill, Dr. Villalobos said  IICA, through its analyses, has concluded that there are some countries with clear advantages such as large available lands for agriculture. These, he said, are Guyana and Suriname.  Not only can produce the food the society needs, but they can also be efficient exporters.
“For that purpose, we accompany the policies and decisions of the countries and that direction, and certainly we recognise this as an important potential. So we need to provide the technology and the investments; but in general terms; what you have here – water and soil – is something that is missing in the rest of the hemisphere,” he said.
Speaking at a cocktail reception  at the Pegasus Hotel Friday night, Dr. Villalobos said the aim of the workshop was to identify the specific areas in which IICA will work along with the countries of the Caribbean.
He noted that IICA recognises that the region is one that has challenges as well as opportunities. He said that IICA is a partner, and will accompany all the countries along the process of developing their agriculture potential to the fullest, and also develop the capacities of rural populations.