(Washington DC, September 21st, 2020). FONTAGRO announces the start of this project, one of the winners of the 2019 Call “Increase of productivity in family farming with sustainability, inclusion, and profitability”.
The initiative will be financed for a total of US $ 657,285, with contributions from the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries and other organizations from Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay.
The initiative supports the objectives of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), of which FONTAGRO is a strategic partner.
Latin America is considered the largest exporter of beef in the world. About 70% of the grazing area in the region is in the process of environmental degradation to varying degrees. Among the regions most impacted by traditional livestock farming is the South American Chaco, a wide plain with xerophytic forests and subtropical grasslands occupying some 140 million hectares in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It is crucial appropriate actions are implemented here to make livestock farming sustainable.
The objective of this project is to generate an extension network and a virtual collaborative site with specialized livestock technicians that efficiently disseminate and transfer technology to producers, in order to generate socioeconomic and environmental benefits for the region. It is expected to directly benefit 1,250 associated livestock producers in the participating countries and 90 extension agents from national agencies and producer organizations. In addition, the project will be the support involve 40 researchers from research institutes and universities of the Chaco region and 150 private advisers from the participating countries.
The Foundation ArgenINTA of Argentina is the main executor. The National Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Innovation (INIAF) of Bolivia, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) of Argentina, the Paraguayan Institute of Agrarian Technology (IPTA) and the Federation of Cattlemen of Santa Cruz (FEGASACRUZ) of Bolivia act as co-executors.
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About the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA)
The GRA was launched in 2009 and continues to grow in membership, with more than 60 countries from all regions of the world. The GRA also partners with key international and regional organisations responsible for the dissemination of evidence-based knowledge to policy makers, the science community and farming leaders. Members and partners of the GRA aim to deepen and broaden mitigation research efforts across the agricultural sub-sectors of paddy rice, cropping, and livestock systems, coordinate cross-cutting activities across these areas, and promote synergies between adaptation and mitigation efforts. The GRA’s objectives are outlined in its Charter and more information on the GRA’s current membership can be found here.
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About FONTAGRO
FONTAGRO was created 1998 with the purpose of promoting the increase of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and the reduction of poverty in the region. The objective of FONTAGRO is to establish itself as a sustainable financing mechanism for the development of agricultural technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean and Spain, and to establish a forum for the discussion of priority topics of technological innovation. The member countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the last 21 years 167 regional agricultural innovation platforms have been co-financed for an amount of US $ 124 million, which has reached 452 institutions and 33 countries worldwide.