Family farming sustainable intensification in Perú and Bolivia

The objective is to disseminate, through a scaling methodology based on a virtual platform (PVD), knowledge and technological innovations that enhance family production systems in the Peruvian-Bolivian Altiplano.

Context of the story

Andean family farming, for centuries, has transferred knowledge from generation to generation. Currently, it faces the challenge of intensifying in a sustainable way. One way is to strengthen it with new knowledge obtained in research and transferred in person to adult producers. It is proposed to orient this transfer towards rural school children in the Altiplano of Peru and Bolivia (beneficiaries). For this purpose, it is proposed to use, as a tool, a virtual dissemination platform (PVD). This tool, linked to the internet, will allow female and male beneficiaries to strengthen their knowledge in preparation for their future role as "new farmers".

What is the Virtual Dissemination Platform (PVD)?

The implemented initiative

The initiative considers that, in the Altiplano from Perú and Bolivia, Agricultural Technological Alternatives (ATA's) were generated. These, having been validated with families in the area, can be disseminated to schoolchildren in the rural area itself. For this, a PVD has been structured as a tool. In the PVD, schoolchildren have access to 44 ATAs in: crops, breeding, transformation, nutrition, trout, environmental management, climate change and forestry. Students, when interacting in the PVD, can consult one or several ATAs, request information, discuss agricultural, transformation or market issues. Since PVD is internet-oriented software, the technology transfer process is virtual and massive. It is novel as a Participatory Scaling Methodology.

Virtual Dissemination Platform (PVD)

The technological solution

In the rural area of the Peruvian - Bolivian Altiplano, more than 1 million peasant families settle. In order to strengthen this agriculture in a context of poverty, fragility of the ecosystem, high climatic irregularity and socio-economic restrictions, actions are proposed to disseminate successful agricultural innovations to a larger universe. The beneficiaries are rural high school students. The initiative considers that this youth population (women and men), needs to improve agricultural knowledge and skills. This, because in the future they will be responsible for productive units. That is to say, they will be the NEW FARMERS. Consequently, the strategy is based on disseminating climate-resilient agricultural technological knowledge and innovations, based on proven methodologies, through a Virtual Dissemination Platform (PVD).

I trained at my school, I registered as a user in the PVD, I recovered the worm ATA and now I am raising a hatchery at home with my parents

Andrea Maribel Mayta Callisaya student

Participating countries

Peru
Bolivia

Type of project

Results

• Disseminate 44 ATAs to 1,739 schoolchildren. 31% downloaded 40 ATAs 517 times and sent 111 messages. 22% of women commented positively.
• The most downloaded ATAs: "alfalfa-forage" (106), "winter wheat" (31), "trout breeding" (26), "potato seed disinfection" (19), "sprinkler irrigation" (16)
• 10 students are finalists with “Nectar de Izaño” in the National School Competition (Peru). Another 68 create a Solidarity Revolving Fund (Bolivia)
• 187 students in Peru (44% women) and 326 in Bolivia (36% women), installed 05 modules based on 14 ATAs.
• 6 students apply ATAs in their homes: Multiplication of native potatoes by sprouts, organic vegetable gardens, production of biol, quinoa and worm farming.