European Union and IICA implement strategy to provide coffee farmers in Central America with technical assistance via WhatsApp
This photo illustrates the types of recommendations that producers receive.
San Jose, 30 April 2020 (IICA). – In response to the health emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Central American Program for Integrated Coffee Rust Management (PROCAGICA) has implemented a strategy to provide coffee-farming families with virtual technical assistance as well as information on preventive measures to protect their health and prevent the deterioration of production systems.
Since April, the Program has been sharing recommendations via group chats on WhatsApp, a tool that is used by at least 80% of the families that work directly with PROCAGICA. The strategy enables technical specialists to constantly interact with producers from 191 organizations, with whom they share audio files, texts and images to provide guidance on specific topics.
“Through the WhatsApp group, PROCAGICA’s engineers are advising us so that we can keep our plots of land running, which is yielding results. I ask them questions, and they respond; I am putting into practice all of their advice,” stated Lorenzo Edgardo Araujo, a small-scale coffee farmer from El Salvador and member of the Association of Organic Producers in Sierra Tecapa APAO-7.
“I am grateful to PROCAGICA for all of its support,” he added.
In addition to providing technical guidance, the specialists also send messages to inform families about preventive measures they must implement to carry out their farming activities safely.
The recommendations, which are analyzed and developed by a technical committee created for this purpose, are disseminated through images, audio files, short videos and other materials that can be easily displayed, interpreted and downloaded.
“We are grateful to PROCAGICA's technical team because even during quarantine, they are keeping track of the tasks that we must carry out in due time and form on our farms. Even though we are unable to meet with the specialists in person, we are still receiving their advice on how to carry out our activities through voice notes and videos. We make sure to share this content with workers who do not have WhatsApp, so that they too can carry out those activities on their farms,” explained Celso Argueta of the multi-service company Florida Coffee, in Honduras.
The purpose of this strategy is to reach the greatest possible number of producers in the region; to this end, other initiatives currently underway in the countries will be involved, in order to reach a broader audience and, in turn, bolster the actions and efforts of the agriculture sector.
Through the implementation of PROCAGICA, the European Union and IICA work together to improve the living conditions of rural populations in coffee-farming areas across Central America and the Dominican Republic.
More information:
Harold Gamboa, Coordinator of the Central American Program for Integrated Coffee Rust Management