The FAO is partnering with the CARICOM Secretariat with support of the members of AFNC, to organise the 11th Meeting of the Regional Planners Forum on Agriculture with a focus on Innovation systems for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development. This activity stems directly from the FAO’s commitment to support the implementation of the 2017 Action Plan of CELAC’s Working Group on Family Farming and Territorial Rural Development, and to contribute to CELAC’s Food and Nutritional Security Plan for the eradication of hunger by 2025. CARICOM member states, as members of CELAC, sharing common interests and shared principles with Latin America countries, contributed to the formulation of the two aforementioned Plans of CELAC.

General Objective
To identify and promote policies and institutional mechanisms that help to strengthen innovation systems for sustainable agriculture and rural development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Specific Objectives

• Expand dialogue on the progress of public policies and institutional mechanisms that promote the innovation systems in agriculture in LAC.
• Identify priority areas of innovation at the regional and sub-regional levels to promote the development of more sustainable agriculture taking into consideration best practices, experiences and lessons learnt both within and outside the region.
• Make recommendations to decision-makers which would inform the development of public policies, legal frameworks and instruments that promote the inclusive innovation systems.
• Identify opportunities for cooperation and coordination among countries and institutions of the region in the areas addressed during the Forum.