Central America, 25 November - The EUROCLIMA+ Project in the sector Resilient Food Production, Climate-Smart Family Farming (AFCIPRA), together with other initiatives in the region,

shared experiences and lessons learned from climate change adaptation measures in Central America during the webinar "Adaptation to climate change in agri-food systems: Experiences and lessons learned in Central America", recently held by the Instituto Privado de Investigación sobre Cambio Climático (ICC) of Guatemala.

The webinar shared the experiences of the Instituto Privado de Investigación sobre Cambio Climático (ICC) of Guatemala, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Guatemala, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) of El Salvador, the AFCIPRA Project of Honduras, and the Agriadapta Project of Nicaragua.

The coordinator of the AFCIPRA Project, Douglas Benavidez, reported that the AFCIPRA project is one of the climate actions of the Resilient Food Production sector of the EUROCLIMA+ Programme, which is financed by the European Union. Project AFCIPRA is implemented by the Netherlands Development Cooperation Service (SNV) and the Association for Integrated Watershed Management of La Paz and Comayagua (ASOMAINCUPACO).

He stressed that the AFCIPRA project met its objectives. Some 882 producers strengthened their capacities for resilient food production despite climate change with a focus on water resource management.  

"We worked on four components. In the first, more than five thousand people were assisted with some 700 hectares of Resilient Food Production (RFP) in communities of La Paz, Honduras, in the El Venado and Chiflador-Guaralape micro-watersheds. We worked to strengthen capacities with actions at the farm level to achieve RFP," reiterated Benavidez. 

He added that in the Water Governance component, the AFCIPRA Project established an integrated water resource management model in two micro-basins where basin organisations were formed and management plans were drawn up, which are functioning and institutionalised, he added.

Benavidez reported that a Climate Finance Inclusion Model was finalised at the territorial level that identifies some financing products that are in line with the profile of small producers so that actions aimed at resilient food production can be financed.

In transformative effects, Benavidez mentioned the promotion of resilient on-farm practices such as: water harvesting, efficient irrigation, agroforestry systems, silvopastoral systems, conservation agriculture, and the use of drought-resilient seeds to increase farmers' resilience.

 Webinar of the AFCIPRA project

In terms of economic transformational effects, he emphasised that the project achieved through its practices an increase in productivity and income for producers, the formation of 20 self-savings and loan groups for women, and that food and nutritional sovereignty was worked on with access to markets for selling surpluses. 

He also indicated that in addition to all the results and impacts to improve climate resilience for resilient food production, the implementation process has generated learning that resulted in the systematisation of best practices and lessons learned that have been disseminated and communicated in a context of South-South cooperation, generating favourable conditions for sustainability, replication and scaling up of the action. 

He reported that there is a roadmap for the project to be scaled up to other regions of Honduras, or to other Central American countries. He listed that there is a territorial validation and dissemination of best practices, political will and strategic support from Clima+, identification of local actors for scaling up and that a concept note for scaling up has been prepared.

AFCIPRA had an investment of more than 1.2 million euros provided by the European Union, through EUROCLIMA+. It promoted, from June 2019 to December 2021, resilient food production in Lenca indigenous communities and the mestizo population, under a sustainable water resource management approach in the El Venado and Chiflador/Guaralape watersheds of Honduras.

About AFCIPRA 

The AFCIPRA project had an investment of more than 1.2 million euros provided by the European Union, through EUROCLIMA+. It promoted, from June 2019 to December 2021, resilient food production in at least 600 families of Lenca indigenous communities and the mestizo population, under a sustainable water resource management approach in the El Venado and Chiflador/ Guaralape watersheds in Honduras. 

It was implemented by SNV and ASOMAINCUPACO. Its strategic partner was the Centro Universitario Regional del Centro (CURC-UNAH) and its political counterparts were the Presidential Office for Climate Change of Honduras (ClimaPlus) and the Ministry of Environment of Guatemala.

Editorial staff

Judit Vanegas, Communication Specialist AFCIPRA This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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