Joint collaboration activities between CIAT and FONTAGRO were analyzed during the visit.

Rubén Echeverría, PhD, Director General of CIAT

(Washington, D.C., January 24, 2017) The Director General of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Rubén Echeverría, PhD, visited FONTAGRO’s offices within the framework of a set of meetings he had in Washington, D.C. Several opportunities for cooperation between both organizations were analyzed at a meeting he had with FONTAGRO’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Hugo Li Pun.

COOPERATING WITH CIAT
Within the framework of opportunities for collaboration, CIAT expressed its interest in joining the climate-smart farming platform in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which FONTAGRO is organizing with the objective of promoting smart livestock production systems that are adapted to climate change in the region. Funding for this project is provided by New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries and FONTAGRO.

Meeting attendees also explored CIAT’s opportunities for collaboration and participation in activities related to scaling-up the “Water Harvesting” project in Nicaragua. Said project is implemented by “Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego”( FLAR) and it was one of the winners of the “Competition for Successful Cases of Innovations for Family Agriculture Adaptation to Climate Change,” organized by FONTAGRO in 2015.

Possible collaboration between the organizations regarding knowledge management and communication issues was also discussed at the meeting.

For more information and inquiries email fontagro@iadb.org.

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ABOUT FONTAGRO
FONTAGRO is a unique regional cooperation mechanism that promotes family farming innovation, competitiveness, and food security. It was established in 1998 and it includes fifteen member countries that have contributed a capital of some $100 million. FONTAGRO is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). Its Technical Administrative Secretariat is based at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C. FONTAGRO has cofinanced more than 100 projects and initiatives in its member countries for an approximate amount of $88.7 million, including contributions from other sources of funding and executing agencies. Its member countries are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

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