ICA presented the agreement GCN-003-2026, worth $2,450.5 million, at Territorio Aguacate, for phytosanitary surveillance of Hass avocado in seven departments, with 20,664 monitoring visits and 82 field technicians.
Medellín, November 5, 2026. The Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) is taking part in Territorio Aguacate, the gathering that brings together companies, producers and players from Colombia's Hass avocado production and export chain at Plaza Mayor in Medellín, with an institutional stand to assist attendees. With its presence at the event, the Institute reaffirmed its commitment to coordinated work between the public sector and the industry association to protect agricultural production, strengthen competitiveness and generate opportunities for the Colombian countryside.
During the event, ICA executives presented the actions the organization is carrying out together with the Corporación de Productores y Exportadores de Aguacate Hass de Colombia (Corpohass) and highlighted the agreement GCN-003-2026, worth $2,450.5 million, with contributions from Asohofrucol, Corpohass and ICA. The alliance, with an initial execution period running from July 17 to December 31, 2026, provides for the engagement of 90 people — including 82 field technicians — to carry out surveillance and support actions in seven departments and 40 municipalities. Its goals include conducting 20,664 quarantine pest monitoring visits, ensuring that at least 80% of detected outbreaks have control measures in place, and holding technical outreach and risk communication sessions.
In this regard, Hernando Londoño Acosta, deputy manager of Plant Protection at ICA, said: “ICA's role is fundamental in supporting producers and strengthening the phytosanitary conditions the sector needs to reach international markets. That is why we trust in the coordinated work with Corpohass and in this alliance, which allows us to pool efforts so that Colombian avocado meets the safety and admissibility requirements demanded by markets such as the United States and Europe.”
For her part, Khateryn Mejía Vergel, executive president of Corpohass, highlighted the value of this alliance for the development and competitiveness of the avocado sector: “This coordination with ICA is fundamental to protecting Colombia's phytosanitary status and to demonstrating that, when the association, the authorities and producers work together, we can strengthen our country's presence in international markets. We are moving forward with actions so that more producers obtain their registration as exporting farms, comply with the requirements of destination markets, especially on maximum residue limits, and we can continue protecting the health of our crops.”
These efforts take on particular relevance given the growth of Colombian avocado exports: in 2025, the country exported nearly 200,000 metric tons for a value of more than $350 million.
The work of ICA also contributes to the international positioning of other agricultural products. The Institute maintains fruit fly surveillance in all 32 departments, five low-prevalence areas and Colombia's status as a country free of Bactrocera. It has also secured phytosanitary access for fresh blueberries to Canada and for in vitro propagation material of Musa sp. to Venezuela.
On exports, Colombia has 122,883 hectares registered for the export of fresh vegetables, spread across 10,534 farms, and exported 1,132,000 metric tons of these products in 2023. Also noteworthy is the work with the private sector to verify maximum residue limits in shipments of fresh passion fruit to the European Union and forest phytosanitary surveillance across the 403,000 hectares registered with the Institute.
