Agriculture Information Systems in the Valleys of Santa Cruz - Bolivia

The Instituto de Capacitación del Oriente (ICO) project is operational since 2002, and provides price and production information.

The programme is well received among producers in the region and is having a strong impact on the negotiation position of small farmers towards intermediaries, resulting in better market prices and in some cases better decisions on selection of crops.

For production information, the project has developed an on-line information system on production volumes in the provinces of the ‘Valles’ in the department of Santa Cruz. The database is populated with production of 500 producers of 18 farmer associations. The production information is used to assist farmers in taking longer-term decisions on production planning.

The region of Vallegrande is known as the granery of Bolivia, producing large volumes of vegetables and fruits in the country. The quality of produce is known to be very high and at short distance of the market consumer market in Santa Cruz.

Still, the farmers face fierce competition from foreign producers, notably from Peru and Argentina, which are producing at larger scale and benefit from government subsidy schemes. Also, the region is lacking good roads and means of communication hampering competitiveness. Average income in the region is US$ 920 per year. The farmer community of 30,000 producers consists primarily of small producers, with 38% of these living in poverty.

To improve this situation the region needs to raise productivity substantially by using improved production technologies, capacity development and access to communication and information.

Read more about IICD's Bolivia Country Programme.

The production database is put on-line. The database is populated with volumes of 500 producers, members of the 18 participating farmer associations. For now key production chains are selected to populate the system, including vegetables and fruit products. Also, training of representatives of the producer associations has initiated to ensure that they can update the database in the future independently from ICO.

Farmers and communities in the Valleys of Santa Cruz improve their income by means of:

• Access to production information: 500 producers have direct access and 1,500 produers benefit from information of the region's planned and realized production volume assisting in a more optimal longer-term planning of production and marketing of agriculture products.

Analysis of monitoring and evaluation indicates that:

• Almost 50% of the farmers perceive a direct improvement in their income because of this project. Estimations of the increase in income are found around 10%, representing an increase in annual income of US$ 100;
• Like in any other sector, users in the agricultural sector have benefited from training opportunities according to their particular needs. 73% of the users declare to be very satisfied with the quality of the training received. Technical support is particularly important for self development and, when asked about the project staff, 68% of them affirm to be very satisfied;

• A problem still to be addressed is that there are very few women participating in this project. Only 30% of the users are women. To address this, remains a very important challenge for the Bolivian program.

 Read more about IICD's approach towards Livelihoods.

• Like in any other sector, users in the agricultural sector have benefited from training opportunities according to their particular needs. 73% of the users declare to be very satisfied with the quality of the training received. Technical support is particularly important for self development and, when asked about the project staff, 68% of them affirm to be very satisfied.

• Projects provide for the development of a series of information services available to the users. 93% of them declare to be very satisfied with these services as the projects have enabled them to meet their objectives. Information about new production techniques that have showed them how to become more productive are some of the services obtained through the Internet

• A high percentage of the users are not satisfied with the Internet service.  Up to now, access has been very problematic and communication very limited. The Internet has not reached the communities yet, despite the efforts made by the projects. Connectivity costs are very high and impossible to sustain. And the users ask for the project technical staff to make more visits and follow up activities.

• There is still a shortcoming that needs to be corrected and it is the participation of women in the projects. Only 30% of the users are women. This problem remains a very important challenge for the Bolivian program.

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