SEED - Sustainable Agriculture

OVERVIEW

The Sustainable Agriculture Activity (SAA) supports the expansion of licit, profitable, and climate-smart agricultural (CSA) business models in conflict-affected areas and in areas that have a high prevalence of illicit crops.  The activity encourages rural producers and value chain actors to adopt CSA, like agroforestry, to increase their income, combat food insecurity, conserve biodiversity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result from land use change.  SAA also uses an inclusive market systems development approach, and it promotes local ownership and programmatic sustainability by partnering with public and private actors to develop and implement regional interventions.  The main value chains supported by SAA include coffee, cocoa, dairy, fruit, vegetables, and natural rubber, and the activity is implemented in three geographic corridors, Catatumbo, Caquetá, and Bajo Cauca- Southern Bolivar. SAA runs from February 2023 to February 2028.

GOALS

IMPROVE MARKET ACCESS 

SAA helps producers establish long-term sourcing agreements with agribusinesses, including processors, exporters, and retailers. Such agreements improve producers’ ability to access markets and receive fair prices for their products.   

INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

SAA increases crop productivity by strengthening the technical capacity of producers, productive organizations, and other public and private market actors.  SAA places particular emphasis on helping these actors understand and adopt intercropping, when two or more crops are cultivated in a field simultaneously, and intensify production, so that producers do not expand crops onto forested land.

EXPAND CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE (CSA)

SAA encourages producers to adopt CSA models, like agroforestry and silvopastoral models.  The use of CSA by producers supports conservation, reduces emissions from land use change, increases carbon sequestration, and protects against the negative impacts of climate change. SAA also works with public and private actors to develop incentives and regulatory frameworks for CSA.

ENHANCE INFRASTRUCTURE

SAA improves market access by strengthening local actors’ capacity to design infrastructure proposals, like tertiary road projects, and to operate and maintain infrastructure post-construction.  SAA also promotes coordination between public, private, and community stakeholders to align resources needed for infrastructure investment.

ANTICIPATED RESULTS 

• Lift 30,000 households out of poverty;
• Increase producer sales by 100 percent;
• Leverage USD $30 million in investment;  
• Form over 80 alliances with the private sector; and
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by different value chains by at least 50 percent.