Photo: Potato farming
(Washington, D.C., October 30, 2017) Today FONTAGRO announced the winning projects of its 2017 Call for Proposals on “Innovations for the sustainable intensification of family agriculture in response to climate change.”
During the 2017 Call for Proposals, FONTAGRO received 210 project profiles, 16 of which were invited to submit full proposals. An external panel of experts analyzed proposals based on scientific technical criteria as well as economic, environmental, and social impact.
Winners
As a result of the external evaluation, FONTAGRO’s Board of Directors recommended the approval of the following four proposals:
| Project Title |
Consortium |
| Early Warning System for Managing Potato Late Blight | National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA), Chile;
National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA), Argentina;
National Agricultural Research Institute (INIAP), Ecuador;
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA);
Agricultural Research Institute of Panama (IDIAP);
Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (DMC), Consorcio Papa Chile SpA, ZE FARMS SpA (Tika Chile), Chile;
Agroquímicos Caballero S.A., Panama. |
| Sustainable Intensification of Family Agriculture in Peru and Bolivia | Centro de Investigación de Recursos Naturales y Medio Ambiente (CIRNMA), Peru;
Alternativas Agropecuarias (ALTAGRO), Bolivia. |
| More Rice with Lower Emissions and Lower Water Consumption | Federación Nacional de Arroceros (FEDEARROZ), Colombia;
Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM), Peru;
National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA), Chile;
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT);
Americas Sub-Group of the Paddy Rice Research Group (PRRG), Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA);
Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego (FLAR). |
| Innovating and Intensifying Livestock Production and adapting to climate change in Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela | National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA), Argentina;
Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM), Peru;
National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA), Venezuela;
Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo de la Biotecnología (Fundación NADBIO), Venezuela;
Cooperativa Agrícola Ganadera Calibui Ltda., Argentina;
Comité de Ganaderos de Juan Guerra, Asociación de Ganaderos La Asunción de Matahuasi, Peru. |
The approved projects included scaling up an initiative that won FONTAGRO’s 2015 Competition for Successful Cases, aimed at training children, as well as their families, in rural areas of the Peruvian-Bolivian Altiplano. The project seeks to empower families, and especially children as future farmers and agents of change, in family farming and adaptation to climate change.
Another project will establish a network of specialists to develop an early warning system for potato late blight, a disease that is exacerbated by climate change and produces up to 100% crop losses. Specialists from Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Panama participate in this project, with the support of IICA.
One project aims at improving family farm production of meat, wool, and milk while adapting to climate change in six locations of Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela.
Lastly, a project presented by the Colombian rice farmers association with the support of universities and research institutes in the region, including FLAR/CIAT, will develop a new irrigation system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve productivity and water efficiency.
FONTAGRO will provide a total of $1.2 million in funding, and project proponents will invest more than $3.44 million as matching funds.
Past calls for proposals have resulted in FONTAGRO supporting a total of 16 projects, which have been selected, in a balanced way, with institutions from all three regions represented in FONTAGRO: Central America, the Andean region, and the Southern Cone.
For more information, you may email your queries to fontagro@iadb.org.
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About FONTAGRO
FONTAGRO is a unique regional cooperation mechanism that promotes family agriculture, competitiveness, and food security. It was established in 1998 and it includes fifteen member countries that have contributed a capital of some $100 million. FONTAGRO is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). Its Technical Administrative Secretariat is based at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C. FONTAGRO has cofinanced more than 100 projects and initiatives in its member countries for an approximate amount of $98.7 million, including contributions from other sources of funding and executing agencies. Its member countries are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
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