USAID Launches Multi-million Dollar Agricultural Project in Nicaragua

28 de noviembre de 2007

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), together with its partners; Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Asociacion Aldea Global Jinotega (AGJ), Technoserve (TNS), LAFISE Agropecuaria; municipal governments and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), launched a major agro business program that will benefit thousand of producers from seven different departments, and both autonomous regions on the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast.

The “Alliance to Create Opportunities for Rural Development through Agro-Enterprise Relationships” (ACORDAR) program has a total value of nearly $30 million. The U.S. Government, through USAID, contributed more than $7.6 million, which will be matched by funding and in-kind contributions from partners participating in the alliance. The ACORDAR project will provide assistance to 5,400 small and medium farmers and their families and 85 producers’ cooperatives in 44 municipalities in the departments of Matagalpa, Jinotega, Esteli, Nueva Segovia, Madriz, Rivas, Managua, the North Atlantic Autonomous Region and the South Atlantic Autonomous Region.

ACORDAR will provide technical assistance, technology and infrastructure to help farmers improve competitiveness and to increase sales in local, regional and international markets, taking advantage of new opportunities offered by the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). Producers and cooperatives will receive training in marketing skills, commercialization, business management, and regional and international market links.

The project will fund the construction of several facilities, including a commercialization center in Sébaco, a packing plant for coffee and root and tuber products in Jinotega, and a bio fertilizer plant in Tuma-La Dalia, for organic coffee production. The construction of rain-water capturing systems, mini-dams, reservoirs and artificial lagoons for water systems for irrigation will also be built by the program.

Activities will focus on fruits and vegetables, coffee, beans, cocoa and other high value crops. Product sales are expected to increase by $57 million during the life of the project, and over 23,000 full time jobs will be generated in activities related to production, post harvest management and commercialization. This program will continue the support that USAID has given to small and medium farmers, with its partners over the last several years.