OECS Ministers of Agriculture, Women & Youth Join IICA for a Transformative Study Tour in Costa Rica

May 27, 2025 – The First Official OECS Joint Meeting and Study Tour of Ministers, Women and Youth in Agriculture to Costa Rica marks a groundbreaking initiative to strengthen regional agricultural cooperation and empower women and youth in agriculture. Hosted in San José, Costa Rica, at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Headquarters, the event brings together OECS Ministers, youth, and women in agriculture to explore innovative and sustainable solutions for food systems transformation. 

The tour, which commenced on May 26, reinforces collaboration between IICA and OECS, fostering alliances that accelerate agricultural development. A recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center(CATIE) opens new avenues for specialised training and knowledge exchange. During the opening ceremony, Director General of IICA, Dr. Manuel Otero, reaffirmed IICA’s commitment to supporting agriculture and rural development in the OECS region, emphasising the importance of continued investment in technical cooperation. 

I now wish to take this opportunity to bring to your attention some key technical cooperation initiatives that we will immediately be rolling out in support of the region, including the OECS countries. These initiatives will be financed directly by IICA to the tune of more than USD 500,000 to be executed by the end of this financial year. This is in addition to the annual USD200,000 allocation to CARDI who is currently in the process of executing specific projects to benefit member states.

Participants will engage with IICA’s innovation labs, gaining hands-on experience with cutting-edge agricultural technologies. The program highlights climate-smart practices and strategies for sustainable food production. The tour provides direct exposure to successful business incubators, entrepreneurship models, and policy frameworks that support their economic empowerment.

Director General of the OECS, Dr. Didacus Jules, expressed profound appreciation for IICA's unwavering support and highlighted the visionary leadership of Dr. Manuel Otero.

We must pay special tribute to a friend of the OECS and a true visionary of hemispheric cooperation – Dr. Manuel Otero. Under Dr. Otero’s leadership, IICA has not merely offered assistance; it has extended solidarity. His foresight in promoting climate-resilient agriculture, empowering rural communities, and investing in the region’s youth and women has materially advanced the agricultural reform agenda in the OECS. He has understood that technical cooperation, when driven by empathy and guided by science, becomes transformational. Under his direction, IICA has helped shape the very architecture of the OECS Food and Agriculture Systems Transformation (FAST) Strategy: supporting its design, prioritisation, and now, its implementation.

Dr. Jules' remarks underscored the deep partnership between OECS and IICA, emphasising shared goals of resilience, innovation, and empowerment in agriculture. Through the FAST Strategy, both institutions continue to drive practical solutions for climate-smart farming, digital transformation, and economic opportunities for youth and women in agribusiness. The OECS Joint Meeting and Study Tour aims to:

In closing the Director General of the OECS highlighted that the IICA-OECS partnership continues to be a beacon of South-South cooperation, ensuring that future generations will look back on this moment as the turning point when agriculture in the Eastern Caribbean moved from subsistence to sustainability, from tradition to transformation.