In 1942, the world was struggling to improve the supply of raw materials in the midst of World War II. Henry A. Wallace, who was secretary of agriculture for two terms before Franklin D. Roosevelt picked him as vice president, also became the president’s goodwill ambassador to Latin America. Out of Wallace's vision for research, data and training in sound agricultural practices was born the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences. The institute would serve “as a symbol of amity and of the economic and cultural relations between the Americas,” Wallace said at that time.
Since that time, the center has been renamed the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and its 34 member countries span Latin America and the Caribbean and the U.S. and Canada. Last week, IICA celebrated the 80th anniversary of Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug’s move to Mexico to develop agriculture in that country.
Compared to other international food and agricultural agencies, like the World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization, IICA may be the least known and lowest funded. Still, the Costa Rica-based organization manages to punch above its size. Kip Tom, former U.S. ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome, said he was impressed with how Director General Manuel Otero efficiently and creatively ran IICA like a private company with a lean operating budget of just $32 million.
Otero says today’s food security needs are just as crucial as when the organization was founded. Agri-Pulse recently interviewed Otero to learn more about IICA’s key initiatives and outcomes. The former Argentine agricultural official was elected to the position in 2017 and his term expires in 2026. Some answers have been edited for brevity.
A-P: What changes and priorities have you focused on during your leadership of IICA?
MO: When I started as director general, I was convinced that if we insisted on transforming food systems around the world, IICA would have to change. This was based on three pillars. First, agriculture of the Americas represents 30% of global exports, therefore this region is an important breadbasket of the world, so IICA must support its member states to continue to serve this important role for global food security and its own economic development as a region that looks outward. We began important outreach to Africa, which is the future, not just in terms of exports, but also as an important region for global food security.
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Second, IICA is a bridge and advocate for collective action in the Americas. We defended the notion that producers are key actors and need to be at the forefront of global negotiations on food systems with science as the foundation for designing a new generation of public policies.
Lastly, IICA had to evolve into an open-minded institution that worked with people from all over the world, so we did just that. We created IICA of open doors which welcomed not only students to come visit our new Center for Tomorrow’s Agriculture here in Costa Rica, but we also welcomed the private sector, civil society and farmers and ranchers of all sizes and countries to join the ministers and government officials that already were frequent visitors and collaborators.
A-P: Unlike other international agencies, tell us why you’ve taken a different approach to working with the private sector.
MO: I understand that IICA and other international agencies like us are not the drivers of agricultural innovation and trade – that’s the role of the private sector. IICA’s role is to support sound science and agricultural policies that enable agricultural and economic growth for our farmers and climate smart initiatives for our environment.
We celebrated IICA’s 80th anniversary during my tenure and I wanted our anniversary to be a celebration of innovation, relevancy and high energy – not about longevity and years. I prioritized support to new technologies that help our farmers increase yields, improve the efficiency of water, increase soil health and increase sustainability. In partnership with Bayer and Microsoft, I developed the Interpretive Center for Tomorrow’s Agriculture (CIMAG) at our IICA Headquarters. CIMAG showcases new technologies in the agricultural sector – from drones, artificial intelligence, digitalization and connectivity to smart crop monitoring. CIMAG is an interactive center that is open to the public and is one of the most popular school field trip destinations in Costa Rica. Making agriculture exciting and interesting to our youth who are the next generation of farmers, is a priority to me.
A-P: When UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres invited IICA to the 2021 Food Systems Summit for the first time, you played a key role influencing Summit outcomes.
MO: I served as a member of the Food Systems Summit Champions Network and leveraged that role to unite IICA member states with a common position of 16 key messages that we brought to the summit. A very core message was that agriculture is part of the solution to address climate change. I will always defend and support our farmers and I believe our commitment to agriculture and the sector made a positive difference to the summit outcomes.
A-P: IICA is increasingly recognized as a counterbalance to some in Europe and elsewhere who insist on redoing modern food systems and fallowing more land. How is that working?
MO: With the support of our 34 member countries, we created a commission with journalists and communicators to elaborate on a new narrative. We are showing stories about the interactions between forests, livestock and crops. Our motto is transforming agriculture by doing more with less in a different way. I’m convinced we’re going to win this battle.
A-P: Even though you’ve had over 15,000 visitors to CIMAG and stepped up your outreach, do you still meet people who doubt the need to adopt new agricultural technology?
MO: No leader has said to me I am in doubt the new technology could help my country solve problems. Ministers are convinced that the new frontier of knowledge is essential for being a protagonist of a new time for farmers. They talk about the necessity of this new technology being close enough to small farmers and for putting in motion new extension programs in order to strengthen the decision-making process. In 2023 over 10.5 million agricultural producers and rural stakeholders benefited through our portfolio of national and regional projects.
A-P: How else would you like to see IICA change before your term expires in 2026?
MO: I would like IICA to be transformed into a technological hub - like a lighthouse showing the future for agriculture in the Americas. I would like IICA to be the most important organization training young people as we prepare for the challenges of transforming agriculture. I’d like to be one of the leading institutions defending agriculture in the Americas as sustainable, resilient and generating employment and improving quality of life, not just in rural areas, but for whole economies.
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