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Report 3 of 4:
Piping
Success - Ecuador
Introduction
Ecuador's economic landscape has mainly been dominated by the decision taken at the beginning of January of the current year to swap the national currency, the Sucre, for dollars. This decision derives from a bad economic performance in the previous years. In 1999, GDP fell by seven percent and inflation reached 61 percent. Approximately one-third of the country's territory is used for agriculture, which is recovering very slowly from the El Nino floods. Ecuador is the world's largest banana producer but cocoa and coffee are also important for the country's exports. The increase in oil prices since the beginning of the year has helped the national economy to improve its fiscal accounts.
IFAD's strategy in Ecuador
The strategy of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is aimed at rural poverty alleviation, through the adoption of productive components for rural development, such as the construction or rehabilitation of irrigation systems, the improvement of the agrarian reform, and the generation of employment. IFAD focuses on land reform, farm activities for those having extensions of land available for agricultural purposes, and non-farm income-generating activities for those without sufficient land.
In 1985, IFAD initiated the Sur de Loja Integrated Rural Development Project, followed in 1990 by the Upper Basin of the Canar River Rural Development Project. In 1992, the Saraguro-Yacuambi Rural Development Project was approved. It was aimed at increasing the participation of the beneficiaries in the implementation of the project, at promoting peasant organisations, and at providing technological packages that would improve productivity. Finally, in 1997, the Fund approved another project, the Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian People's Development Project.
The Upper Basin of the Canar River Rural Development Project
The project area, the County of Canar, is an area characterised by a high rate of male migration due to poor employment opportunities in the area and an increasing participation of women in agricultural activities. The main economic activity is agriculture, nonetheless, yields are low and production scarce owing to the rudimentary cultivation technology and to the limited use of agricultural inputs. Only a small percentage of smallholders have sufficient water throughout the year to allow them to irrigate, the others use it only to prevent their crops from dying, but are not able to use it to increase the area cultivated.
The target group consists of the most disadvantaged peasant families who will benefit particularly from irrigation, credit and technical assistance aiming at improving agricultural production.
The project is mainly intended to provide the area with irrigation infrastructure for long-term irrigated agricultural production. It is also aimed at promoting and consolidating existing peasant organisations in order to ensure the efficient provision of social and production support services, and to promote women's employment in income-generating activities that will help to overcome difficulties encountered following men's migration.
In order to improve the agricultural productivity of the targeted population, technological packages and cultural practices have been introduced together with the rehabilitation of existing irrigation infrastructure and the construction of new infrastructure in various regions of the Canal Canar Basin. Moreover, an agricultural credit programme has been included, that has financed on-farm irrigation works, such as ditches and canals, land-levelling and conservation works, as well as seeds and fertilizers.
Agricultural Development
The lack of water for cultivation during several months of the year has hindered agricultural development and income level in the area. Overcoming this constraint through the introduction of improved farming technologies is the basis of the project's strategy. The strategy includes the provision of adequate and timely supplies of water for irrigation; the introduction of improved farming practices comprising the use of modern technology inputs; and the adoption of soil conservation practices which depend on the introduction of irrigation in peasant farms.
Construction and Rehabilitation of Irrigation Infrastructure
Only after the provision of adequate quantities of water for irrigation can improved technological packages and farming practices be introduced into the project area, in order to improve agricultural productivity of the beneficiaries. This component of the project includes both the rehabilitation of existing irrigation infrastructure and the construction of new infrastructure in various regions of the Canar River Basin. The objective is to provide irrigation to some 3,840 ha benefiting in turn 3,200 peasant farmers. The new irrigation infrastructure would provide water to some 2,600 ha. The infrastructure works include the construction of a dam, 58 km of primary canals, 87 km of secondary canals, and 205 km of tertiary canals.
Environmental Impact
Once the irrigation in the project area is systematically organised, the project will have a substantial positive impact on the environment. Before the project started, there were 61 irrigation canals in the area, operating without any kind of control. Spillovers and inadequate farming practices resulted in land erosion and degradation. The on-farm conservation works undertaken and the training of peasant farmers in conservation practices help reduce soil erosion and degradation of farms through:
- on-farm: conservation practices have been included in farming methods (incorporation of stubbles for controlling water overflows, cultures following contour lines, contour-furrow irrigation); fixed constructions (contention barriers using live plants, infiltration ditches, construction for avoiding surplus water, trench systems).
- off-farm: constructions to protect primary and secondary canals; small dams for protecting catchment basins; outlets to prevent overflow; and special outlets to conduct surface run-off.
IFAD
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) was established as a specialised agency of the United Nations with an exclusive mandate, to combat hunger and poverty in the rural areas of developing countries. In fulfilling its mandate, IFAD designs and implements client-driven projects aimed at increasing the food security of its target populations, increasing their production levels and improving their overall well-being. The aim is that these projects should achieve their objectives in a participatory, cost-effective and sustainable manner. Backed up by over 20 years of experience in fighting hunger, IFAD is a "knowledge reservoir" on rural poverty issues in the most disadvantaged areas of the developing world. Between 1978 and 1999, IFAD has financed 550 development projects in 115 countries assisting about 250 million people to overcome poverty.
For further information, please contact:
Willem Bettink
Country Portfolio Manager
Latin America and the Caribbean Division
IFAD
Via del Serafico, 107
Rome 00142
Italy
Tel: +39 06 5459 2472
E-mail: IFAD@IFAD.ORG
Website: http://www.ifad.org/ |
Communications and Public Affairs Unit
IFAD
Via del Serafico, 107
Rome 00142
Italy
Tel: +39 06 5459 2215
Fax: +39 06 5459 2143 / +39 06 5043 463
E-mail: IFAD@IFAD.ORG
Website: http://www.ifad.org/ |
ITDG would like to thank IFAD, in particular Pascale De La Fregonniere, for providing the original material about the Upper Basin of the Canar River Rural Development Project in Ecuador.
This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.
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