THE PROJECT

Project Summary

Implementation of a demonstrative model to achieve food sovereignty in Cochabamba, Bolivia

The current agro-industrial model hides high risks for both population's and environmental health. Its ease of food access arouse dangerous dependencies for farmers and consumers. Moreover, the oligopoly of food production and marketing is leading to the empowerment of only a small part of the society. Another important threat of this model is the reduction of the agro-biodiversity due to the intensive monoculture of species. As a consequence, a worldwide reduction of many food varieties has been registered. The food sovereignty is at stake in most parts of the world.

The Association l'Agroécole, in collaboration with  Fundación Gaia Pacha, is aimed to educate people on the themes of food sovereignty and eco-friendly food production practices through an “Education and Ecological Centre” settled in the municipality of Santibañez (Bolivia).

The project hereby proposed aims to sensitize target people towards the themes of food sovereignty and organic agriculture, providing support to local farmers against the intensive agribusiness industry and reducing the dependency of local consumers towards big supermarkets. This objective implies the development and implementation of a demonstrative and participative model to achieve food sovereignty in the town of Santibañez, Cochabamba (Bolivia). To reach this aim, the project will include a technical component which refers to the agricultural practices (design and application of the agro-ecological model) and a social component which involves the active participation of the target groups during the different project phases.

An time-length of 3 years is expected to fulfill the objective, after which the project is intended to be extended to other municipalities of the department of Cochabamba in the long term. The successful achievement of these objectives will provide great benefits to both people and environment.