Knowledge Exchange Program for Agriculture Industry

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the PROCASUR Corporation from Chile, hosted a five-day business capacity and skills building exercise for agricultural organizations across the country. PROCASUR applied its learning route tool, a mechanism developed by the company to build management capacity through shared experiences and studies. The weeklong training was intended for the seventeen participants to exchange good practices and develop innovations that can be implemented in the individual context of each organization. We spoke with Pedro Boareto, the Project Coordinator for FAO, via Zoom from his office in Chile about the program.

Pedro Boareto

Pedro Boareto, Project Coordinator, F.A.O.

“Last week we had what we call learning routes. It is a methodology for facilitating the exchange between champions or best practices that focus on empowering and putting the center of the attention in the solutions we have in the field. It is not FAO or PROCASUR which is our implementing partner, sharing their experiences. We are only facilitating the pier to pier experiences. This national learning route is part of a program that is called Farmers Organization for Africa and the Caribbean and Pacific. It is a global program that FAO is implementing in the Caribbean region and Belize is one of the countries. This program aims to strengthen the capacity of farmer’s organizations and support their development as an accountable organization and an organization that supports their members. So, the learning route is part of the activities we have aiming to connect these different farmers, experiences, under a common methodology, framework in order to develop innovation, to foster the innovation between he participants. This is what we were doing in Belize.  This event was held in San Ignacio Town. Four organizations were selected to host case studies and share their experiences and best practices in rural enterprise development. They are the Valley of Peace Lagoon Farmer’s Cooperative Society Limited, Sabals Food Products, Corridgeree Belize Limited and Hibiscus Mayan Arts and Craft Women’s Cooperative.”