{"id":18274,"date":"2026-10-02T12:27:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/?p=18274"},"modified":"2026-10-02T12:27:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:27:44","slug":"iica-joins-forces-with-the-caribbean-community-caricom-and-the-university-of-the-west-indies-to-promote-a-leading-role-for-young-people-in-the-agricultural-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/2026\/10\/02\/iica-joins-forces-with-the-caribbean-community-caricom-and-the-university-of-the-west-indies-to-promote-a-leading-role-for-young-people-in-the-agricultural-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"IICA joins forces with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the University of the West Indies to promote a leading role for young people in the agricultural sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trelawny, Jamaica, October 1, 2026 (IICA) \u2013 The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) will work jointly with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) to promote a leading role for young people in the agricultural sector, particularly in areas such as access to credit, participation in decision-making in the rural sector, leadership capacity building and support for agri-bioentrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

This was agreed in Jamaica by IICA Director General Muhammad Ibrahim and authorities from CARICOM\u2019s Agriculture Youth Advisory Body (CAYAB) and the educational institution, which was founded in 1948 and has a presence in 15 Caribbean countries and territories.<\/p>\n

The guidelines for the joint activities were agreed upon during separate meetings held in the context of Caribbean Week of Agriculture, the region\u2019s main strategic forum for discussing the agricultural sector agenda and the future of its rural communities.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim met with Teesha Mangra-Singh and Jerard Darville, President and Vice President of CAYAB, the CARICOM Agriculture Youth Advisory Body, which was created to involve young people in decisions on agriculture, food security and rural development in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Its work focuses on connecting young leaders, promoting policies based on youth participation and contributing to the development of a stronger and more resilient agricultural future throughout the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

The IICA Director General also met with Mark Wuddivira, Dean of UWI\u2019s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Sustainability, and his technical team. The Faculty is based at the University\u2019s St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n

Representing IICA alongside Ibrahim at the meetings were Director of Operations and Regional Integration Curt Delice; Director of Technical Cooperation Valeria Pi\u00f1eiro; and Senior Advisor Jorge Werthein.<\/p>\n

IICA made its network of offices in 34 countries of the Americas available to CARICOM member countries to support and work with CAYAB in promoting issues related to youth and agriculture.<\/p>\n

The Institute will also support efforts to strengthen CAYAB\u2019s ties with the private sector and with the Ag-Startup initiative, which promotes the creation of technology-based enterprises for the agricultural sector, with a view to fostering the adoption of innovation in rural areas.<\/p>\n

At the meeting with university authorities, the parties also agreed to renew the General Technical Cooperation Agreement signed by IICA and UWI in 2023 for a three-year period, which established a framework for joint efforts to strengthen agricultural capacities in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

It was also agreed that University students will undertake internships or thesis programs at IICA offices in the countries.<\/p>\n

The parties also agreed to create an \u201cIICA Chair\u201d at UWI\u2019s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Sustainability.<\/p>\n

The University also committed to collaborating, through its research structure, with the Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Hub and the Regional Agricultural Health and Food Safety Hub that IICA will establish in Guyana and Barbados, respectively.<\/p>\n

Critical challenges<\/p>\n

The advanced age of farmers is a critical challenge in the Caribbean, as are the aging and declining numbers of trained professionals available to provide services to the region\u2019s agrifood systems.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Ibrahim explained that, for this reason, IICA is prioritizing the training and capacity building of young people living in rural areas of the Caribbean. To this end, it is drawing on its ties with leading educational institutions such as the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), which, like IICA, is headquartered in Costa Rica.<\/p>\n

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness also stated during the opening ceremony of Caribbean Week of Agriculture that modernization of the sector through investment and technology will create opportunities in rural areas for new generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgriculture in the Caribbean should no longer be viewed simply as an occupation, but rather as an industry with considerable potential to foster innovation, create wealth, contribute to economic development and attract young people,\u201d said Holness.<\/p>\n

CAYAB\u2019s strategy to engage young people in agriculture is part of CARICOM\u2019s \u201c25 by 2025 + 5 Vision,\u201d which aims to significantly reduce food imports in Caribbean countries through increased production and productivity, greater resilience and more fluid trade dynamics.<\/p>\n

In this regard, it has been noted that youth participation is essential throughout value chains, including in production, processing, logistics, digital services and market development for agricultural products.<\/p>\n

However, young people continue to face barriers to accessing land, financing, markets, technology, extension services and decision-making processes. Institutional strengthening of CAYAB provides a more organized foundation for incorporating these issues into regional discussions, developing practical responses and connecting youth-led enterprises with technical support.<\/p>\n

UWI\u2019s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Sustainability (formerly the Faculty of Food and Agriculture) has developed numerous joint initiatives with IICA in recent years in areas such as food security, climate resilience and tools to integrate young people into the Caribbean agricultural sector.<\/p>\n

About IICA
\nIICA 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.<\/p>\n

More information:
\nInstitutional Communication Division.
\ncomunicacion.institucional@iica.int
\nPress release online: https:\/\/iica.int\/en\/news\/iica-joins-forces-with-the-caribbean-community-caricom-and-the-university-of-the-west-indies-to-promote-a-leading-role-for-young-people-in-the-agricultural-sector\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trelawny, Jamaica, October 1, 2026 (IICA) \u2013 The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) will work jointly with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the University of the West Indies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iica"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18278,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18274\/revisions\/18278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}