Socialising learning in Resilient Food Production and its contribution to the green recovery with the new authorities from the Guatemalan Ministry of Environment.
Central America, November 02, The Climate-Smart Family Farming Project #AFCIPRA, which is part of EUROCLIMA+'s Resilient Food Production (RFP) sector, presented its lessons learned in RFP and its contribution to the green recovery to the new authorities of Guatemala's Ministry of the Environment (MAG), during an event recently organised by the European Union Delegation in this country.
AFCIPRA is implemented in the Dry Corridor of Honduras. It promotes resilient food production, with a gender and cultural diversity perspective, in more than 600 families of Lenca indigenous communities and the mestizo population, under a sustainable water resource management approach in the El Venado and Chiflador-Guaralape basins in Honduras.
"The project has transformative effects from an ecological and socio-economic point of view" said AFCIPRA Project coordinator Mr. Douglas Benavidez in his presentation. These effects include the promotion of climate-resilient strategies through actions such as: Integrated Watershed Management, Resilient Food Production, diversification of production, and efficient and sustainable use of water, activities that generate impacts at landscape and farm levels.
ACFIPRA, he said, also promotes adaptation measures such as agroforestry and silvopastoral systems and the development of conservation agriculture, which contributes to carbon sequestration and emission reductions, as well as increasing productivity by up to 25%, thus helping to improve household incomes.
They also work on financial products according to the conditions of the producers, which promote processes and actions to improve access to foods through Food and Nutritional Security (FNS), including connecting the producers with local markets for the sale of surplus production.
Green Transition
From an economic point of view, AFCIPRA has a huge contribution to make to the inclusive green transition process for the RFP sector, emphasises Benavides:
"The activities promoted in this climate action, develop processes and implement low carbon and climate resilient activities, which are aligned with the NDCs and with priority four of the green alliance between Honduras and the European Union to shorten the process from the farm to the consumer's table and with the Honduran decarbonisation plan".
In addition, the formation of (15) Women's Self-Saving and Loan Groups is being facilitated to enhance women's economic empowerment and promote a culture of saving.
Resilience
The Project increases resilience to climate change at the farm level, by developing adaptation measures that reduce the vulnerability of livelihoods, including: water harvesting, efficient irrigation, agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, conservation agriculture, the use of drought-resistant seeds, and other practices.
At the watershed level, it is promoting the development of a water governance model that considers the basin as the unit of management, and water as an integrating resource and an enabling environment for RFP.
Innovative approach
"What is innovative about the AFCIPRA project is the approach, which combines components of water governance and Climate-Smart Landscapes".
Benavidez indicated that Climate Action promotes the design and implementation of a water governance model with the development of basin planning instruments, the formation of Basin Councils, and the institutionalisation of the process which is facilitated by the Water Resources Directorate of the Ministry of the Environment. This process is developed under a multi-stakeholder and multi-level approach, considering the watershed as the unit of management and water as the integrating resource, in order to generate a favourable environment for Resilient Food Production (RFP).
Meanwhile, through the Climate-Smart Landscapes component, the project combines three key elements: the development of climate-smart family agriculture that is accompanied by the identification of inclusive financing models for RFP, and a public-private partnership to connect small producers with local markets. "All these generate a favourable environment for RFP and support the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of Honduras".
AFCI-PRA promotes self-saving and loan groups for women
The challenge: sustainability
At the challenge level, AFCIPRA is working to ensure sustainability by developing horizontal technical assistance, generating community leadership from farmer to farmer through community promoters, and by developing a Plan as an exit strategy.
Together, the project systematises the experience in Honduras and later refines it. In addition, taking existing experience into account, a Concept Note has been prepared with local partners, in order to scale up this model for other territories in Honduras. Likewise, a Road Map has been drafted to share the experience with a view toward scalability in Guatemala and El Salvador.
About the project
The AFCIPRA project is part of the actions of #EUROCLIMAPlusAlimentos. It is implemented by the Dutch Development Cooperation Service (SNV) and the Association for the Integrated Management of the La Paz and Comayagua Watersheds, Honduras (ASOMAINCUPACO). The Centro Universitario Regional del Centro (CURC-UNAH) is a strategic partner, and its political counterpart is the Presidential Office for Climate Change (Clima+), Honduras.
AFCIPRA promotes resilient food production with 600 families in Lenca indigenous communities and the mestizo population, under a sustainable water resource management approach in the El Venado and Chiflador - Guaralape Watersheds in Honduras.
More information
Judit Vanegas, Communication AFCIPRA, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (+505) 8510-1926
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