The joint project of the International Fund for Agricultural Development and IICA in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Dominican Republic promotes good agricultural practices to reduce climate vulnerability in rural areas.
San Jose, 30 November 2021 (IICA) – INNOVA AF, a project financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and implemented by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), has supported over 2,000 small-scale farmers from eight countries in the Americas in preparing their own organic inputs, using less water, taking advantage of trade platforms, establishing community tree farms and protecting soil quality.
These farmers are implementing and validating over 40 climate change adaptation practices and are strengthening their technical and organizational capacities. They are residents of communities in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Dominican Republic, all beneficiaries of the “Knowledge Management for Adaptation of Family Farming to Climate Change” initiative (INNOVA AF).
The project has placed special emphasis on women and young people and, thus far, has benefited 972 women and 387 youth, who have played a key role in using technologies to make decisions, be more resource efficient, reduce climate vulnerability and take advantage of trade platforms.
The initiative’s progress was confirmed by an annual IFAD mission comprised of 12 specialists who analyzed the advances being made on strategic issues, including South-South and triangular cooperation; strategic alliances and impact on public policy; monitoring and evaluation; sustainability and scalability; and knowledge management and communication.
The mission highlighted the progress of training activities and the implementation of practices, technologies and methodologies, to date having reached 78% of the total proposed beneficiaries. Moreover, partnerships with 38 public and private entities have been developed to adapt and replicate good practices.
Miguel Ángel Arvelo, Chief of Staff and IICA Representative in Costa Rica, explained that “IFAD’s annual mission makes a valuable contribution because, in addition to offering an analysis of the project’s current status, they make recommendations to improve IICA’s management strategies”.
“During this final phase, it is important to IFAD that its recommendations are heeded, especially in terms of consolidating the sustainability and scalability strategy with strategic allies, in addition to finalizing products that capture the wealth of information derived from subprojects and initiatives”, stated Leonardo Bichara, IFAD Program Officer and coordinator of the supervisory mission.
“IICA’s actions are aimed at strengthening the capacities of farmers and technicians and ensuring that the resulting products can be launched in other territories and countries to guarantee sustainability”, emphasized Federico Villarreal, Director of Technical Cooperation at IICA.
Miguel Altamirano, General Coordinator of INNOVA AF, commented that this is the biggest challenge facing the project. “The beneficiary countries share the challenge of reducing the vulnerability of family farmers to climate change. To confront it, actions with public and private allies will be conducted to promote good practices and validated technologies, so that they can be employed by a larger number of family farmers”.
About INNOVA AF
Financed by IFAD and implemented by IICA, the project seeks to strengthen the capacities of peasant families through participatory knowledge management and dissemination of good practices for climate change adaptation in eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing to the sustainable, inclusive development of the rural environment.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
