In the rural area of the municipality of La Paz in the department of Cesar, a group of 87 small producers and their families received inputs to optimize cocoa production and thus improve the technical conditions of their crops.
Each one received lime, urea, potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, boron, agrimins and healing paste, among other elements that will be useful for the establishment, rehabilitation or renewal of their crops, implementing good agricultural practices in the production of cacao from high quality.
“Thank God they have given us a very important kit to be able to spray our cocoa seedlings. We are very grateful for this project and we hope that, from now on, they will continue to accompany us with more projects,” said Rigoberto Jaimes, a producer in the township of San José de Oriente.
The investment in inputs amounts to $131 million granted by the Sustainable Colombia Program (PCS), an initiative of the Nation led by the Colombia in Peace Fund (FCP) with resources from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to promote sustainability, environmental conservation and sustainable rural development.
The PCS contributes $780 million to the project, which is also used to strengthen capacities, technical assistance and socio-entrepreneurial processes to promote the commercialization of cocoa. These resources are complemented with a counterpart for more than 1,20 million that correspond to the labor of the beneficiaries and contributions from key actors such as the National Chocolate Company, the latter also a commercial ally of the project. The entire investment is managed by Prodesarrollo Ltda as executor.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
With this initiative, the rehabilitation of 87 hectares (Has) and the establishment of another 87 hectares of cocoa under agroforestry systems (SAF) are proposed, that is, 2 hectares per beneficiary, implementing good agricultural practices in order to obtain a density of 1,111 trees. for each hectare planted, estimating that the yields increase from 500 to 1,200 kg/ha after the closure of the project.
The Association of Producers and Traders of Cocoa and other agricultural products of San José de Oriente (CACAORIENTE) is the beneficiary organization, which reports significant progress in the planting of 39,300 cocoa trees and 3,450 timber trees for the improvement of crops in the PDET municipality of La Paz (Cesar).
The Sustainable Colombia Program is an initiative of the National Government that is executed by the Colombia in Peace Fund and that currently co-finances around 200 biodiversity conservation and sustainable production projects, which benefit approximately 40,000 rural families.
Its prioritized area of intervention corresponds to the 170 municipalities where the Development Programs with Territorial Focus (PDET) are advancing and its financing comes from Loan to the Nation 4424/OC-CO of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
This multisectoral operation has the support and participation of the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment and Finance; the National Planning Department (DNP), APC-Colombia and the Peace Agreement Implementation Unit (formerly the Presidential Counsel for Stabilization).