Development of Biologicals for Sustainable Production of Vegetables with Small Farmers for Food Sovereignty in the Andes

The Andean region is characterized by a great diversity of ecosystems with different climatic and geomorphological conditions that have generated great genetic diversity. These ecosystems are being degraded by the excessive use of agrochemicals, creating alterations to the environment and human health. The scarcity of resources of the Andean producers, the high levels of poverty (90 to 95%) and the low level of education (no more than third or fourth year of school) are the main restrictions to exploring new production alternatives. Based on this problem, years ago FONTAGRO financed the project FTG-7075/07 - "Development of biologicals for sustainable vegetable production with small farmers for food sovereignty in the Andes" that generated strains and protocols to identify and use beneficial microorganisms as biocontrollers, biofertilizers, and inoculants for the production of vegetables in the Andean region. The objective of this project was to document and disseminate the knowledge and impacts of the previous project through documentation, workshops, courses, manuals, conferences and articles.