March 2012 Number 175 www.worldbank.org/enbreve A regular series of notes highlighting recent lessons emerging from the operational and analytical program of the World Bank‘s Latin America and Caribbean Region (LAC). Innovative Training in Cocoa Agroforestry: 68266 The Farmer Field Schools of Nicaragua by Mary Lisbeth Gonzalez Introduction The World Bank, with the financial support of the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF), is implementing the Alternative Indigenous and Afro- Descendants and Agroforestry Project (COCOA – RAAN) in the indigenous and Afro-descended (Miskito) regions of Nicaragua. The implementing agency, the Agro-forestry Coordinating Association of Indigenous Peoples and Farmers (Asociación Coordinadora Indígena y Campesina de Agroforestería Comunitaria Centroamericana, ACICAFOC), is a regional NGO “focused on seeking local socio-productive integration, promoting eco- development and community empowerment.� The Nicaragua’s Northern Atlantic Project’s objective is to strengthen the capacity of Autonomous Region indigenous, Miskito, and mestizo organizations The implementation area is known as the “Mining Region� to produce and market quality cocoa in an in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN), one economically and environmentally sustainable of the two Caribbean Autonomous regions created in 1987 manner. The Project is designed to transform the and recognized for their multi-ethnic nature. The RAAN’s social, environmental, and political realities present some environmentally damaging practices of cocoa challenges for successful project implementation. agriculture to conserve the biodiversity, regenerate and sustainably manage forest resources, The region is home to about 80 percent of the indigenous and improve farmers’ livelihoods. Activities peoples. The Mayangna (also known as Sumu or Sumo) include interventions to: (i) develop integrated communities served by the Project are divided into the management systems for agro-forestry on at least Panamahka, Twahka and Ulwa ethno-linguistic subgroups, 1,000 cocoa small farmers; (ii) improve marketing to living primarily in remote settlements along the Coco, international fair trade and sustainable chocolate Waspuk, Pispis and Bocay Patuca rivers and the Río Grande companies; and (iii) strengthen the social, de Matagalpa. The five municipalities are Siuna, Rosita, commercial and environmental management Mulukuku, Prinzapolka, and Bonanza. capacity of beneficiaries. To reach the beneficiary community-based organizations and cooperatives, The BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve, some 728,434 hectares a Project–sponsored fund finances subprojects of of La Mosquitia forest, is the largest rainforest north of up to US$25,000. the Amazon. Most of the remaining compact forest is in the Mayangna Indigenous Territories located in 1 BOSAWAS. Rapid forest clearing for livestock and crops in the agricultural frontier regions is resulting in sustained deforestation and undermining the country’s best source of natural resources. It also threatens the only potential for indigenous peoples’ most basic source of economic growth. Long after the end of the war of earlier decades, the RAAN continues to suffer from frequent political disruptions, making it occasionally unstable and insecure for the farmers and project promoters. Monolingualism still prevails, especially among women. The Farmer Field School Approach The Project is applying the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach to work with communities and small farmers to attend to the communities; one fluent in Mayangna and adopt land use planning and management practices that another well versed in FFS. With this approach, the Project incorporate agroforestry, natural resource management, ensures the participation of indigenous peoples. The Project and biodiversity conservation. The FFS approach provides is also working to encourage the participation of women participatory training that is both an agriculture extension farmers in subprojects and in capacity building activities. tool and a form of adult education. The FFS encourages participation of subproject participants and other farmers FFS’s interactive learning method permits farmers to from the same or nearby communities. Between 20 and participate and conduct their own farm assessment and 30 farmers meet regularly during the course of a cropping receive training program in response to identified problems. cycle, guided by a trained promoter. As a result, the farmers become “experts� on the specific topics that concern them. This experience is resulting in a Most communities are in remote areas. Commutes are community of cocoa farmers who share the same interests difficult and expensive. Most community members are and can solve their own problems. The basic features of also monolingual and have low levels of literacy. The FFS cocoa-based FFS are as follows: approach mitigates these disadvantages through visual and pragmatic techniques and a friendly environment, • The FFS groups meet twice a month. ideal for teaching people with low literacy levels and • The cocoa farm is the primary learning material and farmers with small and medium-size land holdings. the meeting place. • The educational approach is experimental and The first and most challenging task was to identify qualified participatory. trainers, or to train new trainers. At the Universidad Nacional • The sessions include a quiz or test. Agraria (UNA), Centro Agronómico Tropical de Enseñanza (CATIE- • The session ends with questions, recommendations Nicaragua), COCOA-RAAN trained promoters in methods to and a plan for the next meeting. increase productivity. The promoters also received separate training in the preparation of indicators, monitoring and Costs and Benefits evaluation, and in the use of software and computers. During the first seven months of implementation, 42 FFS sessions were organized in the five municipalities. During To create a comfortable learning environment, the Project the training sessions, farmers learned about (i) plant hires indigenous and women promoters. Two promoters varieties and their environmental and soil requirements, (ii) local varieties and new genetic material, (iii) agroforestry and diversification strategies, (iv) shading, (v) supplying Developed in the late 1980s by the United Nations nutrients and organic fertilization management, (vi) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Farmer crop cultivation and maintenance, (vii) organic pest and Field School approach was first applied in Indonesia disease management, (viii) harvesting, and (ix) post harvest to reach large numbers of farmers with basic treatment and processing. Farmers learned to apply this scientific knowledge in pest management. The FFS new knowledge in their efforts to rehabilitate or maintain approach now brings together concepts, methods, crops, bring existing trees into better production, graft new and techniques from a variety of fields to help plant material onto an old root system, or replant trees. farmers around the world learn new techniques, make informed decisions, and solve local problems. Costs and benefits vary. Costs are higher in remote communities because they lack appropriate infrastructure 2 and transportation. These communities need more and women are better prepared to take on responsibilities technical assistance because of the low literacy levels, if they have previous experience working in mixed groups. language background and a lack of previous training in Promoters concluded that, because the cocoa farm is a cocoa-based agroforestry. In response, the Project hired an family business, mixed-groups offer better opportunities for indigenous and a non-indigenous promoter to work with both genders to grow and become empowered. Including these communities. both genders allows for the implementation of a true gender approach. Benefits also vary. Communities with previous experience in cacao-based agroforestry learn new techniques faster Measuring Impact than communities with no experience. Although it is To measure impact, the Project is building a baseline difficult to measure the lasting development impacts, there database and an online monitoring and evaluation is evidence that FSS is stimulating group-cohesion. Crop system (www.monitoreo.acicafocnic.org). Using both managers are also experimenting with new production formal and informal survey methods, baseline surveys options, genetic material and techniques, and increasing collect information on (i) characteristics of the group or their understanding of agroforestry; the farm is their own community based-organization, governance, composition innovation laboratory. The expected result is an improved by gender, education, technical assistance received, and mix of inputs and better practices, leading to higher yields, geographical location, (ii) income sources, (iii) land (farm reduced pesticide use and, higher farm profits. size, tenure, planning), (iv) crops and other production means, (v) agricultural risks and coping strategies, and (vi) Gender in Cocoa-based Agroforestry farming field techniques (fertilizing, pest management, Economic opportunities are extremely limited for rural crop management, and genetic material used). women. Moreover, fewer than 22 percent of the Project’s beneficiaries are women. To address this issue, the Supervision reports use farmers’ knowledge and practices COCOA-RAAN is piloting the creation of women-only to measure the learning and capacity building impact of groups. For example, a study tour for women members the FFS. With further training, small farmers are adopting of the network was organized to visit cocoa farms and land use planning and management practices that chocolate factories in Honduras, Belize and El Salvador. incorporate natural resource management and biodiversity The expectation is that women working by themselves conservation objectives. are more likely to participate—and the learning group will be able to grow faster. However, the working question As Project implementation progresses, production is to what extent single-gender groups will become increases, and farmers’ access to markets will improve. empowered in their community or organization even as Early results indicate that the production of the farms has they grow as a group. increased by about 30 percent. At least five of the largest community-based organizations are using improved So far, results vary. In the case of the Mayangna group, women genetic material. The genetic material used is from “elite were faced with the double burden of responsibilities at trees� which produce large quantities of first-class cocoa. home and the subproject. Husbands often accompany These plants are stronger, less vulnerable to disease, and wives to the single gender groups. Additionally, the groups yield twice or more than average trees. They can reach full had reputational responsibilities within their community. productivity in around four or five years after planting. The Project also trained a single gender-based group A Successful Capacity Building Approach to produce chocolate. The women were members of a The COCOA-RAAN experience shows that, by applying cooperative, which is also a beneficiary of the Project. a relatively small number of strategies, the Farmer Field However, a supervision visit discovered that the School approach to capacity building can succeed in a cooperative’s board of directors had replaced the women variety of settings. These strategies should include, first, and were using the funds to produce chocolate without training a local promoter in the FFS approach to deliver the women’s participation. The implementing agency and the training. Local promoters can develop appropriate the Bank advised the cooperative to rectify these actions material and ensure that the regularly scheduled programs or it would be ineligible for more funds. This situation has address the needs and capacities of local farmers. Second, been resolved. to facilitate learning, training should take place in the indigenous language (oral and written materials). Farmers The Project also created mixed-gender groups. The working can easily share knowledge and express concerns in their question is to what extent men allow equal participation native language. In the RAAN, training materials and and to what extent women are ready to take such roles. manuals are in Spanish, Mayangna Matumbara, Mayangna Although results vary, tentative findings suggest that men Sirita, and Miskito. Finally, the participation of women small 3 farmers should be encouraged in single-gender and mixed groups. The project has been piloting: • Adaptation of the organic compost and fertilizer to soil type and cocoa trees. The Organic Compost Manual (in preparation) will gather lessons learned with the goal of continuing to build the farmers’ capacity. • Comparative analysis between growing plants in nurseries and growing directly on the farm. Preliminary results suggest that plants grow faster on the farm if the soil is properly prepared with organic compost. This system reduces costs and time for the farmers. • Combination of technical assistance and the FFS approach to improve the farmers’ capacity. Technical assistance is the support provided to individual farmers to resolve a specific issue. FFS is a training of the specific group and addresses the needs in more program provided to groups of farmers, devoted to detail. The second modality creates interesting information specific topics. sharing dynamics and allows mutual learning among all • FFS programs designed to meet the farmers’ specific stakeholders (the subprojects, the implementing agency, needs. Promoters assess soil quality and the condition and the Bank). The participation of all stakeholders, of the farms. Some farms already producing cocoa are beneficiaries, the implementing agency, and the Bank has either old or were recently established. Other farms are contributed to building trust in the farmer community. moving from livestock or another type of production to cacao-based agroforestry. A second assessment The FFS approach builds the capacity to evaluate subproject determines the farmers’ knowledge of cocoa performance. Farmers benefit from the training whether or production, agroforestry, and organic production. not they participate in a subproject. FFS schools are also • Recovery of land used for livestock in the BOSAWAS contributing to the consolidation of farmer groups and reserve buffer zone and conversion to cocoa-based fostering the participation of women and indigenous agroforestry. peoples in the learning process. Going forward, the Project • Support of the Central American Cocoa Farmers, will continue disseminating impacts and experiences to established in March 2012. improve the work of practitioners and to indicate ways this experience could be improved, scaled up and replicated. Assessing Progress COCOA-RAAN supports participatory approaches in Web Sites all activities. The Project provides technical assistance • http://www.fao.org/nr/land/sustainable-land- to communities, cooperatives and community-based management/farmer-field-school/en/ organizations to prepare subprojects. In this initial process, • http://www.acicafoc.org/en/ wider community and member participation is encouraged. • www.catie.ac.cr/nicaragua To assess progress, the Project applies two complementary participatory monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools, About the Author (i) organizing focus groups with members of a single Mary Lisbeth Gonzalez is a Senior Social Development subproject and (ii) organizing focus groups with members Specialist (LCSSO), in the Sustainable Development Unit. of all or several subprojects. These participatory exercises identify bottlenecks, needs, weaknesses, strengthens, This “en breve� was edited by Eric Palladini. and new ideas to improve Project supervision. The first modality allows for a deeper understanding of the needs Disclaimer: The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. About “en breve�... “en breve� is produced by the Knowledge and Learning Team of the Operations 4 Services Department of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region of The World Bank – http://www.worldbank.org/lac. Visit the entire “en breve� collection at: www.worldbank.org/enbreve.