Increasing food security with Climate-Smart Strategies
Summary
In recent years, countrywide droughts in Paraguay have reached critical levels and created widespread loss of livestock, crops, and feed. The Guayaibí district is located in the poorest part of the country with 90 percent of its rural population involved in agriculture, livestock, and poultry. The district is also particularly vulnerable to these weather events. In May 2014, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) awarded ACDI/VOCA the 11-month Risk Management and Food Security Program in Guayaibí to increase sustainable food security for families impacted by the effects of climate change and build local capacity to identify and implement preventative measures to reduce risk in the long-term.
Objectives
- Increase sustainable food security in the district of Guayaibí for families impacted by the effects of climate change
- Build local capacity to identify and implement preventive measures to reduce long-term risk
- Increase families’ ability to withstand the impact of droughts over time and more quickly recover from disasters
Activities and Approaches
- Trained family-farming groups in climate-smart agricultural adaptation; conduct trainings on forestry activities and development of small-scale reforestation
- Donated agricultural tools and equipment
- Provided technical assistance to initiate orchards and small-scale poultry infrastructure in homes
- Supported farming as a family business
Achieved Project Results
- Provided seed systems and agricultural input support to over 400 people in rural Guayaibí
- Assisted families in establishing home gardens and poultry coops, including quality inputs and technical assistance
- Trained 236 people in disaster preparedness, mitigation, and management
- Provided training on soil improvement, seed germination, and organic fertilizers
- Partnered with the local municipal government to grant chick, chicken coops, and training on essential concepts of poultry farming
- Improved local capacity to identify, prevent, and manage risks by creating the District Council for Risk Management of Guajaibí
- Created Community Risk Management Teams to implement first-response mechanisms, Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis Teams to quickly activate in response to adverse events, and Forest Fire Brigades to combat increasing fire activity during drought periods
- In coordination with the National Emergency Secretariat, provided training on the early warning system for members of the District Council for Risk Management and more than 50 agricultural producers, doctors, nurses, and university students
Funder: Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)
