Host Highlight: Fundación para la Autonomía y el Desarrollo de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua (FADCANIC)

One of the newest hosts that Partners’ Farmer-to-Farmer program has been working with is FADCANIC (Fundación para la Autonomía y el Desarrollo de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua). FADCANIC is a civil society organization based in the two autonomous regions of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast (e.g. RAAS and RAAN). Partners of the Americas began working with FADCANIC in mid-2016. Since then, the relationship has already proven fruitful.

FADCANIC was founded in 1990 after a government statute recognized the autonomy of the Atlantic coastal regions of Nicaragua. FADCANIC’s mission is to support the autonomy of these areas by improving the livelihoods of its inhabitants. FADCANIC achieve these through two different educational centers: 1) the Center for Agroforestry (Centro Agroforestal or “CAF”) and 2) the Center for Environmental and Agroforestry Education (Centro Educación Técnica Ambiental y Agroforestal or “CEAA”. Through these centers, FADCANIC offers free three-year technical program that focuses on environmental management, horticulture, animal science, carpentry, and forestry, as well as some basics such as history, music, and art. The hope is students who graduate from these programs will be able to return to their rural communities’ better prepared to find ways to improve their income and also with an environmentally conscious focus in their work.

In May 2016, Partners of the Americas sent the first F2F volunteer to FADCANIC in order to determine the best way for them to collaborate with the Farmer-to-Farmer program. During this initial visit, Dr. Andrew Margenot, a professor from UC Davis, noted that FADCANIC’s centers and agricultural facilities demonstrated a high diversity of crops, largely agroforestry species, that were being well-managed by a team of FADCANIC agronomists. He noted several areas where volunteers could work. First, in the forest reserve, Dr. Margenot noted severe erosion in the surrounding grazed pasture that had been illegally converted from reserve forest. Dr. Margenot also noted that many of the producers in the area were still practicing slash-and-burn to renew pasture growth and to clear the forest for new pasture. FADCANIC has several demonstration farms that serve as an “outdoor classroom” for the students, as only about 20% of the activities are in the classroom setting and the remainder is in the field demonstrations and hands-on practice. Dr. Margenot noted a variety of potential future assignments such as citrus production, ecotourism to financially sustaining a forest reserve, as well as the implementation of biogas systems that run on farm waste.

FADCANIC agronomist and F2F field officer Noel Diaz discussing pineapple cultivation

Later that month, F2F volunteer Barbara Brown arrived to Wawashang. After a brief tour of the Center and the Kahka Creek preserve, the innovation center, and the agroforestry center, she left recommendations to develop a strategic plan for FADCANIC to seek additional funding. As far as food processing, Ms. Brown recommended that FADCANIC consider expanding the number of dried products they offer that could be marketed jointly, such as pineapple, coconut and banana chips sold in small bags as a snack. Efforts to implement a consistent method to determine acceptable dryness of each product also needs to be developed. An HACCP plan for products and best practices for food safety also need to be developed.

Most recently, in April 2017, two Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers traveled to Wawashang in order to support FADCANIC with the construction of several biodigesters. This assignment included the participation of Vance Haugen (a University of Wisconsin Extension professor specializing in biogas production) as well as James Rhode (Director of the 4-H Adventure Project in Crawford County, Wisconsin). Mr. Haugen and Mr. Rohde’s assignment was centered on the implementation of bio-digesters systems for FADCANIC’s Wawashang School. Due to the school’s remote location, the administrators are actively trying to strengthen the institution’s self-sufficiency by generating all the food, energy (e.g. biogas), and agricultural inputs (e.g. fertilizers) it needs to function properly.

F2F Volunteer Vance Haugen leading a interactive
lecture on bio-digester design at the Wawashang School

After a year of collaborating with our program, FADCANIC now has a better idea of the type of work that it can do with Farmer-to-Farmer. In the coming months, Partners already plans to send several more F2F volunteers to support FADCANIC both in their headquarters in Managua as well as in the field offices along the Atlantic Coast.  Future assignments will focus on fruit dehydration and artisanal coconut oil production. Additionally, more specific assignments were identified such as agricultural economists to assist in the development of market analyses and agricultural engineers to work with food processing staff to develop low-cost technologies to equipment generate value-added products (e.g. jam, jellies, and preserves)..