A Sustainable Agriculture Delegation to
Nicaragua
March 24 – April 4,
2012
Co sponsored by Nicaragua Center for
Community Action (NICCA) and
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Since 1989 NICCA has enthusiastically
supported Programa Campesino a Campesino (PCaC), a
project of Nicaragua’s National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG).
PCaC is a part of the world-wide Via Campesino movement,
which with its various national movements, like PCaC, is
a comprehensive attempt to further agricultural sustainability
and greater bio-diversity by giving technical help to
small-scale agriculturalists who learn and then teach others.
Nicaragua’s PCaC has had many emphases, including organic
agriculture; soil conservation; crop diversification, even on
small plots of land; the use of natural fertilizers and
insecticides that can be produced at home; discouragement of
field burning; and, importantly, the empowerment of campesina
women through encouragement of kitchen gardens and animal
husbandry for auto-consumption and cash crops. The program has
been extremely successful for those who have the vision and
energy to implement it. In Nicaragua, the second poorest
country in the hemisphere, it has helped eliminate hunger in
many communities where hunger was an almost expected part of the
seasonal round.
Through this delegation, NICCA hopes to share
our enthusiasm for this wonderful and inspirational program. We
believe that people in the global South have much to teach those
of us in the North, especially as we face increasing
environmental strains and food insecurity.
Itinerary: The delegation will meet leaders
of UNAG to discuss its national programs and MAGFOR, the
national agriculture and forestry ministry, to find out about
Nicaragua’s Zero Hunger program, which has significantly reduced
hunger since 2006. Most emphasis and community visits will,
however, be in the beautiful Matagalpa region, where NICCA’s
solidarity partner, UNAG-Matagalpa, has been working for many
years. We will visit NICCA-funded projects in a number of small
communities in the countryside. We will meet the women, men, and
youth who in humble circumstances dedicate their life to helping
the future of their children. Our visits will include small
diversified farms and places where the PCaC is just beginning.
The delegation will also visit coffee farms and processing
plants, and community environmental tourism initiatives. We will
see and discuss sustainable agriculture techniques, local seed
banks, environmental threats, and problems of agricultural
commercialization. Community members will share meals and
entertainment with the delegation.
Please Join Us for a
memorable experience (and get away from the winter cold). See
UNAG-Matagalpa’s website for more information:
www.unagmatagalpa.com.
(Google: unag matagalpa English for its English language page).
See also
Campesino a
Campesino: Voices from Latin America's Farmer to Farmer Movement
for Sustainable Agriculture by
Eric Holt-Giménez Food First: Executive Director, Food First:
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/catalog/101/book
Cost: $1250
Contact for application
and questions:
NICCA
P.O. Box 1004
Berkeley, CA 94701
Diana (510) 525-5497 or Suzanne (510) 654-8635 email:
nicca@igc.org
www.icasprojects.org
