Home News Guyana’s pick to head IICA is opportunity to work together on regional...
Guyana has nominated renowned agricultural scientist Dr Muhammad Ibrahim to be the next Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, this candidacy presents an opportunity for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to work together to further develop agriculture in the region.
The Guyanese Head of State made these remarks in a statement on Friday, according to Spanish news outlet Agencia EFE.
“This candidacy, which is from Guyana and also Caribbean and South American, like our country, is an invitation to work together for the agricultural development of Guyana and the Caribbean,” Ali was quoted by EFE as saying.
The statement coincided with the recently concluded Brazil-Caribbean Summit 2025 held in Brasilia, where the Guyanese leader asked his Brazilian counterpart, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to support Guyana’s candidate.
The candidacy was also officially communicated to IICA in a note sent to the agency’s headquarters in San José, Costa Rica.
The new Director General of IICA for the 2026-2030 term, who will replace Argentine veterinarian Manuel Otero, will be elected in November this year during the 23rd Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) slated for November 4, 2025, in Brazil.
Ibrahim’s candidacy comes at a time when the Government of Guyana is implementing several large-scale transformative financial investment initiatives to boost agricultural and fishing activity.
The Guyanese president explained that they will seek “the support of the continent’s agricultural powers, from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile to the United States and Mexico, to take a decisive step on the road to that development.”
“Our country has entered a phase of accelerated development and is also the new agricultural frontier of the Americas,” President Ali added.
The announcement of Ibrahim’s candidacy for the General Directorate of IICA, an agency of the Inter-American System for Agricultural and Rural Development, was made in Georgetown in the presence of the candidate himself and Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha.
Only last week, Ibrahim paid a courtesy call on Minister Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Special Ministerial Task Force for advancing the CARICOM agriculture agenda.
During their engagement on Wednesday last, Minister Mustapha highlighted the priorities of the CARICOM agri-food systems and the support IICA is lending in the wider Latin America and the Caribbean.
Dr Ibrahim also met with the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Carla Barnett, the previous day.
During the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM held in Barbados back in February, the 15-member regional bloc expressed their support for Guyana’s candidacy to Head IICA.
In a brief statement last Tuesday following the candidate’s visit, the CARICOM Secretariat said, “Dr Ibrahim’s international career spans more than 35 years as an academic and as a professional, implementing technical cooperation programmes. He has extensive knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean region and has served at the highest levels of leadership in regional organisations with responsibility for agriculture and the environment.”
An agricultural engineer from the University of Guyana, Ibrahim holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources with an emphasis on Animal Nutrition from the Centre for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education (CATIE) in Costa Rica, where he was director general.
He also holds a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with a specialisation in Livestock and Animal Nutrition from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Ibrahim, who has developed his international career spanning more than three decades in countries in Central America and the Caribbean, has held technical positions at IICA, including Director of Technical Cooperation, serving in various capacities in Belize and Costa Rica.
“My profile is that of a technician with extensive experience in institutional management, who has dedicated 35 years to building networks to increase the productivity and resilience of the agricultural sector in the Americas,” said Ibrahim.
The candidate to head IICA explained that he established partnerships, mobilised financial resources, and made key contacts to “ensure the success of these objectives in the Americas and its island countries.”
Dr Ibrahim is well-respected internationally and seeks to strengthen LAC’s agricultural resilience and competitiveness, increase global market share, and promote sustainable approaches, taking into consideration the One Health Approach.
