Muhammad Ibrahim

Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim is the current Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for the 2026-2030 term. He was elected by the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA, which is comprised of the Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas) at its November 2025 meeting in Brasilia.

Ibrahim, a Guyanese national, is an accomplished and successful agricultural professional with more than thirty-five years of experience working in first-class international institutions, including IICA and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science (with honors) from the University of Guyana; a master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources with an emphasis on animal nutrition, from CATIE; and a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, from the Agricultural University of Wageningen (The Netherlands).

Ibrahim is a successful professor, researcher, and prolific author of literature on agriculture, agroecology, silvopastoral systems, food security, and payments for ecosystem services in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is also a renowned international expert in livestock systems and the environment.

While in Guyana, he worked as a Senior Dairy Officer in the National Dairy Development Program (NDDP) of the Ministry of Agriculture. At CATIE, he was a professor, researcher, and Head of the Silvopastoral Systems Unit in the Department of Agroforestry and the Environmental and Livestock Program, prior to his appointment as Director General of that prestigious academic institution, serving from 2016-2024.

Ibrahim was also the IICA Representative in Belize, Manager of the Institute’s Innovation Program for Productivity and Competitiveness, as well as Director of its Technical Cooperation Program, before his election by the IABA to the position of Director General.

Among his most outstanding awards are a Recognition from the Colombia Agroforestry Network for his contribution to innovation and training (2023), an Award by the University Center of Izabal, USAC, Guatemala, for his contribution to higher education (2022), an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Jaén, Peru (2019), four CATIE student council awards as the best instructor in the Department of Agroforestry and Agriculture (between 1997 and 2010) and his Award as the best researcher/professor and worker at CATIE (1997).

In 1985, he received the Rector’s Award for the best graduate student in the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Guyana, as well as the GAIBANK Gold Medal for the best graduate student of the Faculty of Agriculture.

On 15 January 2026 he was sworn in as Director General of IICA, in San Jose, Costa Rica.