Support to the Purchase for Progress Program in Nicaragua

The project supports the World Food Program's (WFP) Purchase for Progress (P4P) Program in Nicaragua that aims to increase food security and family income of 3 000 Nicaraguan small-scale farmers while contributing to the purchase of 42% of the WFP Country Program total food needs for the period. This is achieved through increased farming productivity increased access to formal markets and the increased sale price of better quality agricultural products. Main project activities include: i. Assess small-scale farmers (especially women) and their organizations to increase their capacity to access credit; ii. Improve the capacity of small-scale farmers men and women in best agricultural practices; iii. Improve post-harvest management and storage capacity of small-scale farmers (both men and women); iv. Improve marketing practices and strategies of small-scale farmer organizations; v. Implement purchase modalities compatible with small-scale farmers reality; vi. Install or up-grade quality control systems and processing capacity within farmer organizations; and vii. Strengthen institutional and management capacity of small-scale farmer organizations including the promotion of gender equality:

Increased productivity of 3 000 small-scale farmers organized in 9 cooperatives (20% increase in productivity of small-scale farmers’ production; 10% decrease in production costs of small-scale farmers; 50% reduction in post-harvest production loss. Increased access for nine farmer organizations (3 000 small-scale farmers) to formal markets and buyers such as the United Nations World Food Programme government programs and private sector (50% of participating farmer organizations sell to the United Nations World Food Programme; two contracts per farmer organization signed annually for the provision of basic grains with the United Nations World Food Programme government programs and/or private sector; 100% of farmer organizations’ clients satisfied with the quality of grains). Increased sale prices for participating small-scale farmers’ agricultural products (40% of targeted farmer organizations obtain a higher price for their products compared to the prevailing price paid by informal traders in the same geographic area; 10% increase in the sale prices realized for the participating organizations’ products). Strengthened institutional and management capacity of small-scale farmer organizations including the promotion of gender equality (100% of participating farmer organizations have developed a gender strategy and 40% have implemented their gender strategy; 20% increased participation of women in decision-making roles within small-scale farmer organizations.; increased membership of women in small-scale farmer organizations).