IICA Launches Free AgriSTEAM Programme to Empower Youth in Digital Agriculture

CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA, SEPT. 23, 2025 (IICA ECS) – The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is calling on young people across the Eastern Caribbean States (ECS) to seize the opportunity to participate in AgriSTEAM, a free training programme designed to equip the next generation with cutting-edge digital skills to transform the agri-food sector.

The programme, which is now available online and open for enrollment, is self-paced, giving participants the flexibility to begin at any time. It is specifically tailored to young people and women in rural areas – groups seen as essential to ensuring the region’s future food security but often limited by unequal access to technology and training.

Speaking on the importance of the initiative for the Eastern Caribbean, Gregg Rawlins, IICA Representative in the ECS, noted that “over the years, IICA has placed great emphasis on the economic empowerment and engagement of youth in the agricultural sector in the Eastern Caribbean. We therefore view the AgriSTEAM programme as another important tool in our efforts to strengthen the capacity of youth. We are particularly excited about AgriSTEAM, as the programme focuses on digitisation in the agri-food sector, which is an area not only of great importance but one that we know will capture the interest of young people.”

AgriSTEAM is part of the broader “Training programme on digitalisation in the agri-food sector of the Americas and the Caribbean” and directly responds to global challenges such as population growth, urbanisation, climate change, and increasing inequalities.

The programme aims to bridge the digital divide, empowering youth to adopt sustainable practices, embrace innovation, and lead the digital transformation of agriculture in their communities.

“AgriSTEAM was launched to drive a sustainable transformation of food production systems by reducing the digital divide among youth in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through this initiative, young people will be able to strengthen their competencies and lead the digital transformation of the agri-food sector,” explained Andres Sanchez, Digital Agriculture Specialist at IICA.

The programme spans 25 weeks and consists of five courses:

• Introduction to Digital Transformation in the Agri-Food Sector (4 weeks)
• Programming Logic (6 weeks)
• Sensing and IoT Applications (4 weeks)
• Geoinformatics (5 weeks)
• Data Analysis with Python (6 weeks)

Participation is completely free, and students earn digital badges upon completing each course.

Those who successfully finish the entire programme will receive an official certificate of completion from IICA. Training includes hands-on exposure to tools such as Tinkercad, QGIS, Copernicus Open Access Hub, and Python.

The AgriSTEAM programme is now open for enrolment. Interested participants can apply directly at:https://seed.iica.int/course/view.php?id=137

For more information contact:

Carrema Lewis

Technical Assistant (Communications)

IICA ECS Delegations

Carrema.lewis@iica.int; 1 (473) 440-5547