The contest will award up to $15,000 to cases that provide innovative practices with demonstrable impact on agrifood chains.

(Washington, D.C., December 17, 2015) Today FONTAGRO announced the short list of cases in the 2015 Contest for Successful Cases of “Innovation in Family Farming Adaptation to Climate Change.”

Cases focus on documenting successful experiences and lessons learned, and contributing to a better understanding of the innovation and technology-adoption process to help family farming’s adaptation to climate change.

Within the framework of the contest, FONTAGRO received 49 case proposals. After an evaluation by a panel of experts, 11 cases were invited to submit their final proposals. They are as follows:

	Title	Organization
1	FISH FOR LIFE. Improving farming families’ food security and finances	Asociación de Piscicultoras del Norte Integrado (APNI) – Yapacaní, Bolivia
2	Transitioning from cattle farming to the future we want in the Chorotega region	Asociación Agroforestal Chorotega. UNAFOR Chorotega. Hojancha, Costa Rica
3	Surface silo network and locally managed revolving funds for strategically supplementing small-scale cattle farming in the province of Catamarca	Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca de la Nación Argentina – Buenos Aires, Argentina
4	Adapta Sertão – Social Technologies for Adapting to Climate Change	Rede de Desenvolvimento Humano (REDEH) – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
5	Food security of family producers in the Argentine Patagonia: use of local genetic resources and adaptation to climate change	Secretaría de Agricultura Familiar de la Nación – Delegación Río Negro (SAF) – San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
6	Addressing poverty and climate change with agricultural innovations for family farming in the Peruvian Altiplano	Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) – Lima, Peru
7	Innovative agricultural credit program to improve crop yields of small grain farmers and stimulate sustainable economic growth in Northern Haiti	iF Foundation – Milot, Haiti
8	Establishing coffee agroforestry systems that are resilient to climate change, increase profitability, recover water resources, and allow for sustainable water supplies in the Cañaverales River watershed (El Salvador)	Asociación de Cuencas del Golfo de Fonseca (ACUGOLFO) – Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador
9	Converting rain-fed farming to irrigation through rainwater harvesting in Nicaragua and Mexico	Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego (FLAR) – Cali, Colombia
10	Preserving water and using it efficiently by upgrading a pre-Hispanic irrigation system and managing reservoirs in the inter-Andean Valley of Cebollullo, Bolivia	Universidad de Córdoba (UCO) – Córdoba, Spain
11	Farming and tenant families harvest quality of life with resilient production systems in Ahuachapán, El Salvador	Fundación Ayuda en Acción – San Salvador, El Salvador

 The contest is conducted with resources from FONTAGRO and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

 About the Contest

The contest seeks to disseminate the successful experiences of producers and other innovative stakeholders throughout agrifood chains, regarding adaptation to climate change, by documenting these cases and identifying the factors leading to their success.

 It will prioritize innovative cases developed and adopted by family farmers (such as resilient systems, new technologies, and water and soil management) that have helped increase productive efficiency and reduce vulnerability to climate change.

 Awards

Cases will be evaluated by an external panel and winners (i.e., one per category) will be awarded $5,000 to be distributed among case participants and $10,000 for strengthening the institutional capacity of winning organizations.

 For more information about the 2015 Innovations Contest, please visit: https://fontagro.org/concursos/casosexito

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 About Family Farming and Climate Change

According to the 2014 study, “Agriculture and Future Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean: Systemic Impacts and Potential Responses” published by the Inter-American Development Bank, the main changes in agriculture resulting from the impact of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean are atmospheric and soil temperatures, decreases in top soil moisture, sea level rise, and CO₂ fertilization. Agriculture is also affected by the intensification of climate events. From the first half of the 20th century to the first decade of the 21st century, the frequency of floods and droughts in the Americas increased twentyfold. Family farmers are the most affected by climate change, because they tend to work in precarious conditions and have limited access to technical, financial, and knowledge resources. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the family-farming sector includes 17 million small farms and accounts for 40% of total production. Many low-cost innovations can improve the yields of small agricultural holdings and help small producers become more resilient. Consequently, the increase in income generally enables farmers to have more resources for adapting to climate change.

 About FONTAGRO

FONTAGRO is a unique regional cooperation mechanism that promotes family farming innovation, 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 98 projects and initiatives in its member countries for an approximate amount of $83.7 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. 

Contact Information: Carina Carrasco Communications Adviser Telephone: +1 202 623 3038. Email: ccarrasco@iadb.org   Website: www.fontagro.org

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