The virtual event, organized by the Wilson Center and the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA), entitled Feeding the World: A Conversation with the ministers of Agriculture of Latin America, will be held on november 28 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

Participants will include the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina, Juan José Bahillo; the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia, Cecilia López Montaño; the Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, Laura Suazo; and the minister of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries of Trinidad and Tobago, Kazim Hosein.

The dialogue will be introduced by Benjamin Gedan, Director of the Latin American Program and the Argentina Project of the Wilson Center, and the conclusions will be delivered by IICA Director General Manuel Otero. 

The Director of the Economic Development Program of the Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC), Paula Szenkman, will be the moderator.

The Wilson Center is a leading U.S. forum for independent research and dialogue on global issues. It was established in 1968 by the U.S. Congress in memory of President Woodrow Wilson and its Advisory Board is composed of private sector leaders and former public officials from different countries of the Americas.

The meeting will have simultaneous interpretation Spanish-English. Those interested in joining can register at this link: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/feeding-world-conversation-latin-american-caribbean-agriculture-ministers.

The discussion will seek to put into context the disruption in global trade, production and consumption patterns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Eastern Europe, which has led to increases in the cost of fertilizers and a decrease in their supply for the agricultural sector.

Such a scenario complicates the efforts of nations to reduce food insecurity and makes it difficult for farmers in the region to increase their productivity and take advantage of current food prices.

The environmental impacts of agriculture, including carbon and methane emissions and deforestation, which can accentuate the effects of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean, will also be discussed.

In this region, for example, producers are dealing with droughts that devastate soybean and wheat crops in South America, while droughts, floods and hurricanes are hitting the Central American Dry Corridor and Caribbean farmers directly.

Translated by: A.M