COMPLETED
The project objective is to improve the quality of life of inhabitants of the Upala and La Cruz cantons by strengthening socio-productive activities and marketing of agricultural products. This will increase household income and employment and help to meet basic needs, such as health care, education, housing, as well as reducing the risk of food and nutrition insecurity in the beneficiary population.
Financial Structure
ZONAF Program (CABEI-EU): US$ 500,000.00
Executing Agency (World Vision): US$ 40,500.00
ASOLCRUZ: US$ 35,085.00
Project Description
This project will improve the income levels of various communities of the Upala and La Cruz cantons through the construction and operation of a collection and distribution center that will be managed by ASOLCRUZ. It will be used to increase and collect the production of the beneficiary families, who depend mainly on small-scale agricultural production, as well as to add value to their products.
The project also involves the purchase of equipment to be installed at the distribution center for the purpose of storage, drying, cleaning, sorting, polishing, packaging and marketing the agricultural products. This will promote access to markets by ensuring quality standards required by potential consumers. It also is designed to give the beneficiary population agricultural inputs and materials that will increase its production capacity.
The executing agency’s contribution will involve strengthening the production and marketing capabilities through technical assistance and training producer families with regard to use of appropriate agricultural practices that prevent erosion and declining soil fertility, among others. It will also strengthen the post-harvest management of agricultural products, leading to reduced grain losses as a result of high temperatures and to decreased proliferation of aflatoxins and other diseases in order to provide quality products. In addition, on January 15th 2010 ASOLCRUZ signed an agreement committing itself to purchase the land and provide technical studies and civil works inspection in accordance with the project’s global investment plan.
The beneficiaries are expected to actively participate in the execution of this project, especially in training and production activities. Thus, small producers will develop knowledge and skills in the negotiation and management of crops, from planting to product placement in several distribution channels, eliminating intermediaries to allow more profit on the sales price, which will lead to a higher level of income for the beneficiary population.
The funds provided by the program will be used to cover all the components of civil works, equipment, materials, incidentals, supervision and monitoring, and partially fund the administrative cost component.
Justification
The economic and social situation of La Cruz and Upala cantons causes the inhabitants to become more impoverished daily basis. As a consequence, it is more and more difficult for them to meet their basic needs, such as food, education, health care and housing.
In addition, this population lacks employment sources, and when they do find work they earn wages as low as US $0.64 per day. This situation makes the execution of this project imperative in order to increase the availability of financial resources, enabling families to improve their economic condition and meet basic needs. This will reduce their vulnerability to malnutrition and food and nutritional insecurity. The project involves the application of appropriate and environmentally friendly practices and technologies in order provide low cost quality agricultural products, thereby achieving higher profitability and a stable income for producer families.
The joint production and marketing of the producers will take advantage of scale economies in the purchase of inputs and the sale of agricultural products. It is important to mention that the beneficiary population has developed some successful marketing practices of basic grains, especially of beans. However, their commercialization is through intermediaries, such as Horti Frutas, Kani S.A., which means the producers get lower profit levels and incomes. Therefore, this project represents an opportunity for small producers to produce and sell agricultural products on a larger scale with added value as the result of drying, cleaning, sorting, polishing and packaging. In this way they can place their products directly in distribution centers without intermediaries who generally have the highest profit margin.
It is noteworthy that there is currently a great demand for agricultural products in the vicinity of the project, which can be met by small producers, once the collection center is in operation. The basic services of electricity, access roads, and water are already in place. In addition, the execution of this project aims to reduce malnutrition levels by promoting production for family consumption, thus reducing mortality rates.
Beneficiary Population
The project will directly benefit 1,325 people, of which 795 are women and 530 are men, living in various communities of La Cruz and Upala cantons, including: Santa Cecilia, Bella Vista, Piedras Azules, Belice, Los Palmares, Las Brisas, Dos Ríos and San Luis. This population is made up of small producers, which face difficulties in marketing their agricultural products, which the project hopes to change. The inhabitant’s other economic activities include agriculture, livestock, tourism and trade.
The average education level of the population is low with only few people having more than 6 years of formal education. 85.8% of this population is rural with a 12.5% illiteracy rate. In addition, this population has high rates of malnutrition in children under 6, with increasing social and economic problems caused by a large flow of large families of uneducated Nicaraguan immigrants with health and nutritional problems in search of work, thus leading to more poverty.
