Colombia and IICA intensify cooperation to enhance rural resilience and innovation

Bogota, 15 May 2026 (IICA) – While on a mission to Colombia, Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), met with the country’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Martha Carvajalino, where he discussed the strengthening of technical cooperation to boost innovation and resilience in rural areas, particularly against climate variability, and with a focus on rural family farmers.During the meeting in Bogotá, Ibrahim stressed the importance of intensifying joint work with Colombia to spur the transfer of knowledge and innovation to rural areas, as key tools to strengthen the productivity and sustainability of agrifood systems.

The Director General remarked that, “We want to work with you to introduce technological innovations that will build the capacity of family farming in Colombia. As such, IICA is a strategic partner of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.”

On the other hand, Minister Carvajalino stressed the value of international technical cooperation and multilateralism for the development of the Colombian rural sector and IICA’s role as a technical partner in this process.

The Colombian government, she noted, “believes in strengthening multilateralism. Thus, we have maintained an excellent cooperation relationship with the Institute to strengthen the agrifood systems of family farming, and small-scale, ethnic and community agriculture.”

Ibrahim also met with the team of the IICA Colombia delegation, led by Breno Tiburcio, to review the status of ongoing cooperation projects in the country.

The Director General commended the team for their work in helping to position IICA as a strategic technical partner in the transformation of Colombian agrifood systems.

As part of his high-level agenda in Colombia, Ibrahim had met previously with the Deputy Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, to discuss challenges in agriculture in the South American country and the benefits of international cooperation.

The Director General—who was accompanied by Tiburcio to the visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—stressed that IICA “has built a solid knowledge- and innovation-based partnership with the Colombian Government and one of the objectives of my visit is to continue to strengthen this cooperation.”

These ties “enhance the productivity of the agriculture sector” and benefit the residents of rural areas, “by improving their living conditions,” said Ibrahim.

IICA is the specialized agency for agriculture in the Inter-American system, with a mission to encourage, promote and support its 34 Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.