CATIE Economists Participated in the XXXII International Conference of Agricultural Economists in India

• At an event with over nine hundred participants, Pablo Evia and Anthony Gamboa from the Environmental Economics and Sustainable Agribusiness Unit (UEAAS/EfD) shared insights on conducted studies.
  
  

From August 2 to 7, the city of New Delhi, India, hosted a total of 942 participants from 68 countries around the world at the XXXII International Conference of Agricultural Economists, which has been organized continuously since 1929 and this year focused on the theme of Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-food Systems.

According to the organizers, “the conference offers a distinctive platform, providing a unique opportunity for agricultural academic institutions and researchers to meet in person, exchange knowledge, and actively contribute to the global community of agricultural economics research.”

This is how Pablo Evia and Anthony Gamboa, both researchers at UEAAS/EfD of CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), had the opportunity to attend, having their work accepted to be presented in the form of a poster, while also receiving a full scholarship to participate in the event.

Research Presented

Anthony Gamboa presented the work titled Market opportunities and impacts of COVID-19 on short supply chains of agroforestry products in Nicaragua, which was research conducted in 2021 for CGIAR, along with researchers from CATIE such as Adriana Escobedo, Norvin Sepúlveda, and with the collaboration of Eduardo Corrales in statistical analysis.  

“In this research, a study was conducted on short supply chains following the methodology of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which aims to understand the relationship between supply and demand for local products within a 50-kilometer radius, in this specific case in the departments of Matagalpa, Carazo, and Masaya in Nicaragua,” mentioned Gamboa, who presented the results in a poster format during the thematic session on Agrifood Supply Chain, Agrifood Supply Chainheld on August 6.

Gamboa added that “the study aimed to describe consumption trends among final consumers in Nicaragua regarding products from farms under the agroforestry systems model, as well as to identify the impacts that COVID-19 had on producers and businesses operating under the short supply chain approach.”

On the other hand, Pablo Evia focused his presentation on the research titled Entry points for achieving sustainable and healthy diets, which was conducted together with Róger Madrigal, researcher and coordinator of UEAAS/EfD.

Evia indicated that his poster was presented in the session under the theme Diets and Nutrition, which took place on August 7.

“In this work, we developed a framework for transformational change leading to sustainable and healthy diets to address the challenge of a growing global population and an increasing income level,” explained Evia.   

Achievements Attained

Pablo Evia indicated that this event, which gathers agricultural economists every three years and features significant participation from professionals and academics, was an ideal international platform to establish contacts for future collaborations and meet in networking sessions organized by entities such as FAO and CGIAR, among others.

For Anthony Gamboa, attending the event allowed him to build a network of contacts and share with colleagues from around the world to visualize potential alliances in research, exchanges, and projects.

“An important aspect is that, although CATIE has a strong presence in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is not as well-known in Asian, European, or African countries, so this space allowed us to share what the institution does from its three pillars of education, research, and external projection,” concluded Gamboa.