The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of El Salvador, and pro tempore president of the Central American Agricultural Council (CAC), Óscar Enrique Guardado Calderón, stressed the importance of discussing regional solutions to the food insecurity situation that the Central American Dry Corridor is experiencing, when they meet the highest agricultural authorities of the region from October 3 to 5, in Costa Rica.
Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas
Between those days, the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2023 will be held, organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The minister’s call is aimed at strengthening the role of agriculture in the Americas as a guarantor of global food security and sustainability, given the impact of the El Niño phenomenon and its 2023-2024 cycle.
In the Dry Corridor, where a large part of the population depends on agriculture and especially the production of basic grains, this phenomenon severely impacts food production.
Formulation of innovative policies
“It is imperative that we include in the regional agricultural agenda the management of water resources and the formulation of innovative policies, which facilitate the adoption of technologies for comprehensive water management for agriculture and the population in general,” added Guardado Calderón.
The Central American Dry Corridor is an area of dry tropical forest of 156 million square kilometers that extends from the western coast of Chiapas (Mexico) to western Panama. Nearly 30 million people live in this region, plagued by social problems intrinsically rooted in extreme weather phenomena.
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua are the countries that suffer the greatest impact from climate change, reporting a reduction between 30 and 40 percent in precipitation levels during the “El Niño” phenomenon, and where Tropical storms trigger devastating effects on productive activities, while comprehensive policies to efficiently manage the scarce water resource are deficient or non-existent.
In this territory, agriculture plays a key role by employing 42 percent of the population in the food chain. In addition, more than 40 percent of young people are dedicated to agricultural work. However, climatic conditions, poor management of natural resources, high unemployment and low schooling are factors that cause 1 in 3 people to have access to only one meal a day.
During the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2023, the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the supreme governing body of IICA, will meet, made up of ministers and secretaries of Agriculture from 34 countries in the hemisphere.
The IABA meets every two years to address the key challenges facing agriculture in the Americas and to guide IICA in the actions necessary to support the efforts of the countries of the region to improve agricultural conditions.
