GAINESVILLE, USA, (IICA) — On his first visit to the United States since assuming office on January 15, Director General Muhammad Ibrahim of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) met with Dr J. Scott Angle, senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and with senior officials of the University of Florida to advance a shared agenda for science, innovation and technology partnerships that protect the hemispheric food supply for consumers and expand economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers.
Together with 40 public and private sector agriculture leaders and science specialists, the Director General gave an opening speech at an international workshop entitled “Managing Transboundary Sanitary Risks in the Americas: Innovation, Coordination and Investment Pathways,” held from February 23-25 at UF/IFAS. Organised by FONTAGRO (a strategic investment and co-financing fund, created by the finance ministers of its 15 member countries) and UF/IFAS, the workshop focused on solutions for addressing the threats of New World Screwworm and Citrus Greening diseases.
At the opening event of the meeting, the director-general and senior vice-president Angle signed a five-year cooperation agreement to work on innovative solutions for Florida, the United States, and IICA’s 34 member states in the Western Hemisphere. Key areas of focus include preventing agricultural threats, enhancing safe and nutritious food supply, and other long-term cooperation actions to improve agricultural health and prosperity for farmers and consumers.
“The UF/IFAS and IICA share a clear interest in protecting and promoting science-based research for nutritious, safe food and advancing innovation tools to farmers and ranchers in Florida and beyond to all the Americas,” Angle said.
The University of Florida is uniquely positioned as the only land-grant university in the US with subtropical/tropical growing regions, which are like those in Latin America and the Caribbean. UF/IFAS science supports Florida agriculture, natural resources, and food industries with total annual sales revenues of $182.62 billion.
Director-General Muhammad Ibrahim noted:
“The partnership between our institutions is a natural alliance that will create and extend knowledge and innovations to farmers and consumers in the Americas, including over 300 agricultural commodity crops, with sub-tropical and tropical fruits and vegetables, livestock, and fisheries. We look forward to the collaboration and extending innovation across our 34 IICA member states.”
