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Partners of the Americas ensures that communities across the Western Hemisphere have the necessary skills to best fulfill their agricultural needs while also protecting the environment. Doing so promotes economic growth, produces healthier families and protects natural resources.
Partners works in marginalized rural areas where access to resources is limited or absent. Through a variety of programs, Partners provides technical assistance in areas such as agro-forestry, animal husbandry, aquaculture, vegetable production, marketing, farm management and environmental protection.
Increased and Improved Production
- With assistance from Partners, Haitian farmers formed a successful cooperative that serves as an intermediary between producers and sellers and facilitates technical assistance. Partners volunteers offer advice on financial management, marketing, pest management, and irrigation. As a result, members of Makouti Agro Enterprise have tripled their income since joining the cooperative.
- In Ecuador, seed potato production improved dramatically by controlling the potato weevil and introducing potatoes resistant to disease. Results show nearly a seven-fold increase in production, up from an average of 8.5 to 55 tons per hectare.
- A fruit project in the highlands of Guatemala introduced 40 new apple, peach and pear varieties to local farmers and refined harvest, post harvest and storage techniques.
- In Uruguay, Partner volunteers played a vital role in the eradication of cattle foot and mouth disease and, in Paraguay, they decreased calf morbidity and mortality by nearly 50 percent.
- Small scale producers participating in Partners composting project in El Salvador have experienced a 10% increase in the income from the sale of their vegetables and production of vegetables grown using organic compost has increased by 45%.
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The indigenous women of the Bolivian Andes benefited from a microcredit program sponsored by Partners. The women were able to use the small loans to invest their farms with the purchase of livestock, seeds and a plow and Partners volunteers offered advice on improved agricultural techniques. With the extra income generated from these investments, more women were able to send their daughters to school.
Sustainable Environmental Protection
- Through its Mexico Conservation Corps program, funded by USAID/Mexico, Partners organizes youth conservation camps that train young people in environmental education, conservation, community-service and leadership skills. Corps members assist with agriculture and forestry projects, work on trail construction, help with recycling efforts and carry out conservation activities
- In the Bolivian lowlands, Farmer to Farmer efforts increased soil under no-till cultivation from 3000 hectares in 1993, to 150,000 hectares in 1998.
- In Ambato, Ecuador Partners helped reduced the use of agro-chemicals by 80 percent.
- 50,000 bamboo plants have been distributed throughout Haiti, 50% of which have been used for the rehabilitation of soils on riverbanks, ravines and other protected natural areas.
- Many farmers in San Isidro, Honduras have transitioned from traditional slash and burn techniques, and reduced their dependence on pesticides and fertilizers, which has increased both corn and bean production
Building Sustainable Civil Societies
- Partners helped fruit producers in Guatemala gain government recognition of their new deciduous fruit growers association, ANAPDE, which now lobbies for more government assistance in marketing their products and promoting technology transfer.
- In Honduras, Partners helped Siempre Verde, a local NGO working in resource conservation and sustainability, participate in national level forums and policy debates that address national resource conservation issues, such as the relationship of national policies to the wood products industry and forested landowners. Siempre Verde's participation brings much needed technical expertise to the national policy debate.
Resource Mobilization
- Partners has helped mobilize more than $3 million of in-kind and cash resources to support this work, including $221,000 for livestock-related initiatives in Uruguay, and $111,500 for new semi-arid crop development in northern Argentina. In addition, Partners helped Global Village Nicaragua access $250,000 from the Inter-American Foundation because of its participation in the Farmer to Farmer program and assurances from Partners that it would continue to receive technical support.
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