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The celebration of FONTAGRO’s 25th anniversary was attended by the members of FONTAGRO Board of Directors, FONTAGRO Executive Secretary, special guests, and high-level officials such as ambassadors and representatives of outstanding institutions such as IICA, IDB, CGIAR, FAO, CSIC, AECID, IRTA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia)—among others— and in which relevant results of this mechanism since its creation were presented.
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As part of FONTAGRO’s 25th anniversary, the following panels were presented:
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Panel 1. What we Learned from International Cooperation in Agriculture and How to Transform that Knowledge into Good Practices for a More Effective Impact:
Formed by: Ruben Echeverria (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Josep Usall (IRTA), Juan Lucas Restrepo Ibiza (CGIAR), and Ismahane Elouafi (FAO), Manuel Otero (IICA).
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Panel 2. FONTAGRO: Its Origin and Current Relevance in Support of Science, Technology, and Innovation for LAC and Global Networks:
Formed by: the President of FONTAGRO—Arnulfo Gutierrez—, Giomar Blanco (INIA Venezuela), Rodrigo Martinez Sarmiento (Agrosavia Colombia), Miguel Obando (INIA Nicaragua), Pedro Martel (IDB), Federico Villareal (IICA)
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Panel 3. “25 Years of FONTAGRO, Extending Borders to Europe and the World.” In addition to the lectures and special guests such as Luis Telo da Gama – Ignacio Romagosa (CYTED, Spain), Juan Francisco Delgado Morales (INTEC, Spain) and the presentation of Red REMEDIA.
Formed by: the Vice President of FONTAGRO—Carlos Parera—, Esther Esteban, Tomas Duncan, Jose Bonica (Uruguay), Iris Lobos Ortega (Chile)
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As part of the celebration of Fontagro’s 25 years, the XVIII Workshop on Annual Technical Project Monitoring was held. The opening of such celebration was integrated by the Executive Secretary of Fontagro—Eugenia Saini—, Dr. Arnulfo Gutiérrez—General Director of the Institute for Agricultural Innovation of Panama and President of FONTAGRO—, Dr. Esther Esteban—Director of the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology—, Manuel Otero—General Director of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture—, Dr. Anton Leis García—Director of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development—, and Dr. José María Martell Berrocal—from CSIC Spain.
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We share some of the words expressed by:
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Dr. Arnulfo Gutiérrez, President of FONTAGRO
He claimed that during this week ”the results and advances which are very significant, coherent, and relevant for the agricultural sector will be seen”
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Carlos Parera, National Director of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) Argentina and Vice President of FONTAGRO emphasized that “FONTAGRO is a very important cooperation tool in which INTA participates and supports. We are constantly trying to partner with colleagues from other regions of Latin America to obtain the best technology, to achieve the best technology impact on the producer, which is what really matters to us, and in this sense, FONTAGRO has been a very useful tool to support and finance high-impact projects not only in Argentina but also transferable to other Latin American regions.”
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The Executive Secretary of Fontagro, Eugenia Saini.
“This meeting will allow us to interact and continue creating networks, which is one of the most important objectives FONTAGRO has. Networks add value and facilitate innovation, and that is the direction we want to take”
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Manuel Otero, IICA General Director, pointed out “Today there are more than enough reasons to be proud of having formed a financing mechanism for agricultural innovation of its member countries.” And he added: “the countries have appropriated this mechanism, and FONTAGRO gives clear signals of which the priorities are in terms of science, technology, and innovation.”
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The XVIII Workshop on Annual Project Monitoring was held from June 5 to 7 in Madrid, Spain, in tandem with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of FONTAGRO: the organization that promotes science, development, and innovation in agriculture and food for Latin America and the Caribbean.
On this occasion, the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) of Spain, in coordination with the Technical and Administrative Secretariat (STA) of FONTAGRO, hosted the event.
For 3 days, more than 25 researchers from 21 countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain gathered to present advances and results in agrifood research.
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Find out all that happened at the beginning of the 2023 Knowledge Week on this LINK
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The following panels were presented at the Workshop:
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Together for Greater Resilience to Climate Change, focusing on topics such as sustainable intensification of livestock farming systems with legumes, bovine productivity in the South American Chaco region, towards more productive and sustainable rice for Latin America, strengthening capacities for the prevention and management of Fusarium wilt of Musaceae in LAC, opportunities for carbon sequestration in LAC soils and nanofertilizers in soil and nitrous oxide emissions
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New Discoveries, Technologies, and Innovation, with expositions on improving the yield of potatoes and other Andean tubers, Agtech for climate-smart dairy, gene editing for improving plant and animal species, reducing Bioprocess of Rhizospheric Cadmium solubility, higher Agricultural Production with lower nitrous oxide emission, and regional alliances for the dissemination of iron-rich beans in LAC countries.
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Supporting Producers to Manage 4.0, Sustainable, and Agroecological Agriculture, with presentations on sustainable control of the Huanglongbing vector (HLB) in family farming (FF) in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, innovation for pasture and forage reserves management, water management platform in 2030 agriculture, agroecological model for avian coccidiosis, and multipurpose silvopastoral systems and family farming.
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Learn more about the projects that were part of this panel on this LINK
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At the close of this Knowledge Week, the Excellence Award Project winner was announced, and it belongs to Agrosavia: Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research.
The project “°AHoRa: Application for Family Farming of Musaceae” obtained the best evaluation and has the participation of Colombia, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, and with Martha Marina Bolaños Benavides as the project leader.
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Learn more about the Excellence Award Winner Project on this LINK
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We share some words by Dr. Arnulfo Gutiérrez, President of FONTAGRO and Eugenia Saini, Executive Secretary of FONTAGRO,
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“International cooperation is key for the generation of technologies and new capabilities. As FONTAGRO, we continue to show great rallying power, in order to share our vision which is to transform agrifood systems through knowledge, thus improving the life quality of the population”, said Dr. Arnulfo Gutiérrez, President of FONTAGRO.
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Eugenia Saini, Executive Secretary of FONTAGRO, added that “the meeting is extremely relevant because, along with the exhibitions of the projects, a series of high-level panels are being held in which the challenges of the different regions for the future will be addressed. It is a great opportunity for the whole Latin America to attend and give visibility to this type of projects based on science, technology, and innovation.”
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Within the framework of the XVIII Annual Technical Follow-Up Workshop by FONTAGRO, the Director of INIA Chile, Dr. Iris Lobos Ortega, met with Garde Julian, Rector of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) to sign an agreement in the framework of development and research of common topics between the two countries.
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Regarding this, the President of FONTAGRO—Arnulfo Gutiérrez—, pointed out that “FONTAGRO is a platform that has great potential to support the agricultural sector in Latin America and the Caribbean and Spain as well. We are partners in several projects, and we hope that this collaboration will strengthen over time”
In addition, they held a discussion on precision agriculture and irrigation management and the use of satellites, cameras, drones, sensors, weather prediction models and digital tools for the use of variable doses in irrigation and fertilizers.
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On the other hand, besides, during the celebration of the 25 Years and the development of the XVIII Annual Technical Workshop of Projects a plaque was given to the sponsors IICA and to the Inter-American Development Bank as a sign of gratitude for the support and accompaniment provided during all these years.
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