Family farming takes a turn in the Dominican Republic with “Mesoamerica Hunger Free”

By Natiana Gándara

The program focuses on achieving key objectives for social and human development, generating a positive effect through international cooperation actions that address food and nutrition security and care for the environment.

Therefore, the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid) carried out a joint visit with members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to learn about the progress of the “Mesoamerica Hunger Free” program in the Dominican Republic.

Specifically, the visit was organized at the Agro-Food Logistics Association Center (Calargo) where a family cooperative of producers operates in Monte Plata, one of the 32 Dominican provinces.

STRENGTHEN CROPS

Juan José Concepción, president of the Board of Directors of Calargo, commented that the purpose of the project “Mesoamerica without Hunger” has been to train farmers in a healthy and organic way to bring health and life to Dominican homes by improving the productivity and quality of the products.

Technical assistance support to local institutions is focused on purchases of agricultural products from family farming producers, among others.

Liranzo Encarnación, vice president of the Administration Council of Calargo, expressed that the project was like a leap from “heaven to earth, because they only had a machete, hoe, and a pick to work a rudimentary and unproductive agriculture, but now everything is different”.

Margaret Caraballo, treasurer of the Board of Directors, shared that they learned to cultivate sustainably and managed to start the process of building shade houses or greenhouses that help crops to be more efficient.

The role of women has been key, assured Yamma Moreno, secretary of the Calargo Board of Directors, because they have promoted family farming in the company of their members, neighbors and others, doing their bit so that the project continues to grow.

ADVANCES IN OTHER COUNTRIES

During 2022, Amexcid organized joint follow-up visits to corroborate the achievements of this program financed by Mexico.

Gloria Sandoval Salas, Amexcid’s general director of execution of projects abroad, explained that they have observed a differentiated pace of progress among the countries where the program operates due to various factors.

For example, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic have managed to strengthen 45 regulatory, institutional, and public policy processes in favor of food and nutrition security, as well as family farming. and community, all under the objective of improving people’s lives.

The review of results in different communities and countries has the same common thread: the effectiveness of the projects accompanied by specialists from FAO strengthens the work between local governments, educational institutions, ministries of agriculture and the environment, leaders of committed men and women with their localities, groups, among others, concluded Sandoval.

With information from Bloomberg Línea