III Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture will promote the recovery and transformation of agri-food systems hit by the pandemic

On April 15, 2021, the Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Americas will hold their III Hemispheric Meeting, to share the progress of policies, plans, and actions to contain the effects of COVID-19 in the continent.

In addition, they will analyze new initiatives for the recovery of agri-food systems, food security, agriculture and the rural world. On this occasion, the meeting is organized by the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation of Peru with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as Technical Secretariat, and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation for the Agriculture (IICA).

The event will feature the participation of the Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation of Peru, Federico Tenorio; the interventions of the Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Americas, FAO's Director General, QU Dongyu, the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, and the Regional Representative of FAO, Julio Berdegué.

The III Hemispheric Meeting will carry out an exhaustive diagnosis of the current situation of the agri-food systems, giving special emphasis to small producers, who have been more affected by the effects of the pandemic.

On this occasion, the countries will also carry out a mapping of successful experiences and lessons learned that can be shared at the regional level, with an emphasis on the recovery and transformation of agri-food systems.

This will be the third instance in which the Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Americas will meet virtually, with the support of IICA and FAO. The first appointment was on April 22, 2020, promoted by Chile; the second was held in July of that year, sponsored by Mexico.