IICD supported project: Communication to manage sustainable production systems – Pests and diseases

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Countries: Ecuador [EC]
Sectors: agriculture environment livelihood
image: project in state 4

Summary

The Ecuadorian Agroecology Coordinating Office (CEA) heads a national network with diverse members, including grassroots community organizations, NGOs, universities, producers associations and cooperation agencies, among other stakeholders involved in natural resource management. In Ecuador, there is an array of diverse experiences by producers who have solved production problems by applying agroecology principles. The potential of these experiences is promising, to influence an ample universe of producers with similar farming and socio-economic characteristics, who have problems with pests and diseases. In this context, information and communication technologies will be useful tools - so far unexplored in rural communities - to enhance the dissemination of techniques and technologies that have been validated in small-farmer practice and others coming from academic circles. The project supports small farmers' plot management through systematization, information exchange, and on-line advisory support for agroecological management of the main pests and diseases, by implementing four infocenters in different provinces of Ecuador. The project promotes systematization and dissemination of agroecological practices, to manage the main pests and diseases in participants' cropping systems. For the first 18 months, infocenters will be implemented in four provinces: Loja, Azuay, Chimborazo, and Imbabura, and it is planned to expand later into one or two provinces on the Ecuadorian Coast.

Objectives

To reinforce sustainable production systems in the small-farm sector of Ecuador, to contribute to improving farmers’ standard of living and environmental quality.

Specific objectives:

Gather and systematize sustainable techniques and technologies applied by farmers and scientific information available on pest and disease management, for the main farming systems in the Highlands and Coastal Region of Ecuador.
Democratize and disseminate information on managing sustainable systems through infocenters.

Planned outputs

Identify and systematize major current experiences by farmers, emphasizing agroecological management of pests and diseases.
Create a database on pest and disease management for the main crop systems in these zones.
Prepare a CD-ROM with a multimedia presentation on the four main cropping systems.
Implement and operate the four infocenters on a regular basis.
Update the Website.
Direct on-line advisory assistance on demand by farmers.

Development Impacts

CEA seeks to strengthen human resource training in communities, so that their holistic understanding of agroecology will improve their growing systems, and generate proposals to promote agroecological human development for small and medium farmers.

Management and organisation

CEA has five regional offices: four in the Highlands and one on the Coast. They are decentralized, and work through the National Coordinator. The National Office comprises three bodies: the General Assembly, the Coordinating Council and the Executive Coordinating Office. It operates from a central headquarters, providing technical advisory support. The central team participates in project coordination and administration, with support from regional coordinators to implement the project, along with local promoters who live in the communities where each infocenter is located.

Market and finance

Infocenter sustainability in rural zones will mean that they will have to be responsive to farmers' needs, and distribute appropriate technologies that can be localized, so that experience will consolidate farmer organizations' and other organizations' institutional development, by improving their communication systems. From an economic standpoint, infocenter sustainability may be hard to ensure after the project is over, so several strategies are being pursued, including relations with municipal governments, relations with other institutions working in these areas, setting a basic fee, and presenting new project proposals for further funding.

Lessons learned

A situational assessment in the CEA's regional offices determined the main information required to support small and medium farmers' systems, and their perception of the different information sources they use. Farmers' main requirements include pest and disease management, soil management, and access to and recovery of native seeds. The assessment revealed information needs and ICT potential for information exchange. It was important that many farmers - when their plants suffer from pests and diseases - ask agro-chemical stores for solutions, breaking out of their whole sustainable agroecology system.

Marketing problems are a determining factor and, although this is not part of the project approach, which focuses on production technologies, it is recommended to link information from the ICT project to marketing as well. In rural zones, infocenters must manage to achieve an impact, and guarantee their sustainability in three ways: responsiveness to farmers' needs, disseminating appropriate technologies; meeting needs for localization; and consolidating institutional development for rural organizations and other institutions involved, to improve their communications systems through this experience.

Budget

The budget for phase one of the project (18 months) is $127,810 USD, to be used for human resources, equipment, materials, training, travel expenses, mobilization and communications, production of materials, and administrative expenses.

Project Owner : Ecuadorian Agroecology Coordinating Office (CEA) cea@andinanet.net

Project Partners : Funder: IICD

Project Contact : IICD