Field Trip to Rome-FAO,WFP,IFAD

The first week of October a fieldtrip to Rome was organized by the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural Faculty. The main objective of these trip was to visit the WFP, FAO and IFAD that belong to the UN and are of great importance for the field of study of the students of the Msc. IARD.



“The first day of our trip we visited the World Food Program (WFP), a UN agency devoted to prevent famines in regions where there are armed conflicts, natural disasters and other human or natural provoked emergencies that deprive people from food. During our meeting with the WFP´s expert we got to know that the main expertise of this institution is on logistics. They have a lot of experience in mobilizing humanitarian help to the most remote regions in the world. Besides the logistics, the WFP has also other mechanisms to actively contribute to fight the hunger.” (Melisa Valladares and Karen Jorquera, MSc. International Agribusiness and Rural Development)




“The second and third days of our excursion in Rome was devoted to visit the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). We were received by the Assistant Director General of the Natural Resources and Environment Department, Mr. Alexander Müller, who did an interesting introduction of the goals of this institution.



After the introductory session we had several complementary presentations in some of the main fields the FAO works on, namely the management of natural resources, the monitoring of agricultural markets and prices, and the right to food all of them contributing to fight the hunger in developing countries. The visit to the FAO provided us some key elements to better understand how this organization works and the way it contributes to the food security in the world”. (Francisco Mouriño, MSc. Sustainable International Agriculture)




“The last day we visited the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Mr. Carlos Seré, head of the Knowledge Management Department, received us and did a short presentation of the institution. After his presentation we were introduced to some of the IFAD´s work on the strategies to achieve development impact, and on the projects they are currently implementing in Latin American countries. This was very useful for us then many development indicators of our countries were presented and we had the chance to talk with the director of the Latin America Division and discuss with her on some of the issues our region is facing on the way to development.




This was also a good opportunity for the MIA students to get information for their thesis, since most of their research is related to the region. At the end one professional of the human resource unit presented us the different job possibilities the IFAD offers for young professionals, something very useful for our future careers”. (Alberto Saucedo, PhD Program in Agricultural Economics)