By: Staff Writer
June 9, 2026
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in a new report that agricultural productivity needs sustainability and without it the development in agriculture will not be long lasting.
The report, The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2025-2026, said: “Overcoming inertia and stagnation in agricultural productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will require improving existing models and laying the requisite institutional, technological and policy foundation needed to drive the productive transformation of agriculture into a more sophisticated and diverse sector, while generating positive structural changes.
“To that end, it will be necessary to remove barriers that hinder the replacement of obsolete practices, technologies or institutions; foster environments in which innovation, competition and technology adoption are possible; strengthen the management of productive, environmental and financial risks; and foster productive renewal, new investments, adaptive regulatory frameworks and transformative forms of governance, while protecting what still works.
“Only then will we be able to correct structural stagnation and unlock the region’s innovation potential to achieve growth with sustainability and inclusion. We must recognize that there is no sustainability without productivity, and there will be no lasting productivity without sustainability.”
The report, jointly prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, was presented during a virtual event attended by José Antonio López Leonardo, Vice Minister of Rural Economic Development of Guatemala, as well as Rene Orellana Halkyer; Muhammad Ibrahim; José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs; and Maximiliano Alonso, along with other authorities and specialists from the regional agricultural sector.
During the event, Vice Minister López highlighted the adoption of Guatemala’s Agricultural Sector Policy 2026–2032, aimed at sustainably and equitably strengthening rural development, emphasizing coordination among different sector institutions and actions to improve access to productive resources, strengthen agricultural health systems and support decision-making through agroclimatic roundtables. “Its objective is to increase, in an equitable and sustainable manner, the sector’s contribution to national economic development by expanding productive and food opportunities for rural families,” he stated.
“At FAO, we are working to accelerate the productive transformation of the agrifood sector through technologies such as precision agriculture, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and other solutions adapted to local realities, as well as by closing gaps in strategic infrastructure. To achieve this, it is necessary to strengthen coordination between commercial banks, development banks and multilateral organizations in order to expand access to adequate and innovative financial instruments for producers. In this regard, FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative has mobilized USD 1.75 billion in the region to accelerate agricultural and rural development in the most underserved territories,” said Rene Orellana Halkyer.
“We must raise productivity as a central objective of policy both for economic growth and for greater social mobility and equity. Technological, scientific and institutional innovations are public goods that require sustained public investment and equitable access policies. Increasing the productivity of family farming simultaneously improves food security, rural employment and equity,” said Muhammad Ibrahim.