A Partnership to Pilot an Indicator Framework for Sustainable Agriculture in Latin America

Farmers are often absent from discussions about how policies and programs impact sustainable agricultural production.

At the IAF we are investing in a regional effort in conjunction with the University of British Columbia that will give voice to farmers and directly support them in collecting analyzing and presenting data that they can incorporate into their operations to manage their farms more efficiently.

Movimiento de Economa Social y Solidaria del Ecuador (MESSE) is an innovator in connecting producers directly to consumers to improve farmers' quality of life and consumers? food security.

It works with communities to advance sustainable agricultural production participatory certification systems fair-trade markets community tourism and the inclusion of women and youth.The results of this regional project will inform agricultural support organizations government extension experts farmer groups and policy-makers with context-specific data about how to encourage the transition to sustainable agricultural practices to improve food security enhance farmer livelihoods and minimize environmental degradation.

This is part of the IAF's strategic initiative for sustainable agriculture.

Amendment FY23 :This amendment provides MESSE an additional 24 months and $102,000 to expand its work with farmers to analyze data that the farmers can incorporate into their operations to manage their farms more efficiently.

With this amendment, MESSE is building skills in data collection on sustainable agricultural practices, broadening its network, incorporating more women and young people in its operations, and advancing peer-to-peer learning.