Undersecretary of Livestock of Honduras visited CATIE

• His visit took place within the framework of the IICA Ministerial Meeting and he was received by the Director General of the Center..

August 1, 2022. As part of his participation in the ministerial meeting of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), José Ángel Acosta, undersecretary for livestock of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG, its Spanish acronym) of Honduras visited CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) on July 30.

During this visit, Undersecretary Acosta met with Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General of CATIE, who explained the Center's functions in the areas of education, research and external outreach, in particular the work that CATIE is carrying out in Honduras, including the new NAMA Facility project for the transformation of the livestock sector towards a low-carbon economy, as well as other projects for scaling up innovations for climate change adaptation in the Dry Corridor and research in environmental economics, water resource management and coffee and cocoa.

In addition, the Undersecretary had the opportunity to go on a field tour to observe research activities in the genetic improvement of coffee and cocoa and CATIE's climate-smart dairy model.

He also learned about the AGROINNOVA project, in the company of Pedro Avendaño, project coordinator, which is implemented by CATIE and IICA, with funding from the European Union, and manages a model of agro-oecology integrating goat systems for the production of high-value dairy products such as yogurt and cheese, for the production of high-value foods for food security and nutrition, as well as for the conservation of ecosystem services.

CATIE's Honduran students and Juan Carlos Méndez, the Center's Deputy Director General, also shared a more informal setting with Undersecretary Acosta. Most of these students are pursuing master's degrees, while one of them is pursuing a doctorate.

After the visit, Ibrahim said he was very impressed with the Undersecretary's technical capabilities and knowledge, "particularly his vision of promoting science-based policies and valuing the role of academic and research institutions in generating knowledge," said the Director General.