World Food Prize Side Event: IICA - Food Systems in the Americas: Challenges and Actions Needed

IICA

The crisis triggered by COVID-19 has had a profound impact on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), blurring many of the achievements of the past decade and increasing the region’s economic, social and environmental challenges. In response to this crisis, agriculture and agrifood systems have driven food security and socioeconomic reactivation, and are therefore called upon to serve as pillars of the region’s strategic positioning in this new global scenario.

Within this context, after more than 18 months of preparation, the Food Systems Summit was held on 23 September 2021. As part of its strong commitment to the Summit, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) led a series of consensus-building dialogues among the 34 countries of the hemisphere, which, during the most recent meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), agreed on 16 key messages that represent the voice of agriculture in the Americas at the Summit.

These messages highlight the fact that agricultural producers must play a key role in the transformation and evolution of agrifood systems, that decisions proposed and adopted must be science-based, and that agriculture has a great deal to contribute as part of the solution to the main challenges being faced.

In view of the foregoing, this side event will seek to foster the sharing of ideas regarding the future and necessary evolution of food systems.