Producers and technicians from Guatemala and Mexico exchanged experiences on Agrosilvopastoral Systems

Note published by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE, for its acronym in Spanish). Available on: https://www.catie.ac.cr/en/catie-news/3833-producers-and-technicians-from-guatemala-and-mexico-exchanged-experiences-in-agro-silvo-pastoral-practices.html

The exchange was organized by the BioPaSOS project in the state of Campeche.

2nd April 2019. The project Biodiversity and Sustainable Agrosilvopastorile Livestock Landscapes, known as BioPaSOS, implemented by CATIE (The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), facilitated an  exchange of experiences on agrosilvopastoral systems from March 18th to 21st. The participants were producers and technicians from various organizations and institutions of the Guatemalan government as well as institutions, civil organizations and universities in Mexico.

On behalf of Guatemala, the following participated: Producers from the El Naranjo livestock committee and the El Gran Jaguar agricultural committee, as well as technicians from the Selva Maya GIZ-GT project, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAGA), the Municipality of Flores and the Social Pastoral of Petén. The attendees from Mexico were the Centro de Investigación y Transferencia de Tecnológica Forestal (CITTFOR), Pronatura Península de Yucatán, the Secretaría de Desarrollo Rural (SDR) of the state of Campeche, the Universidad Juárez Autónoma Tabasco and BioPaSOS technicians.

During the activity, Guatemalan producers and technicians gained knowledge on various experiences in agrosilvopastoral systems in the state of Campeche and received training in the Field School Methodology (ECA) and participatory tools for carrying out training activities with small livestock producers. In addition, there was a slot in which the different participating institutions, from both Guatemala and Mexico, presented the progress they are making in each of their projects to promote agroforestry systems.

Edwin Pérez, local coordinator of the BioPaSOS project in Campeche, described how the objective of the tour was to strengthen alliances between institutions and producers for the promotion of agroforestry systems and climate-smart livestock systems, as well as capacity building and the exchange of experiences between technicians and livestock producers in the department of Petén and the state of Campeche.

The producers of the livestock committees recognized the importance of these exchange forums in order to discover new ways of working and sharing experiences, which in turn allowed them to get to know the methodology of the Field School in a theoretical and practical way.

Finally, Pérez thanked all the members of the Guatemalan delegation for their efforts, the host producers for their cooperation and participation, and all the local partners for their interest in promoting these kind of initiatives.

More information and editions:

More information/ written by:

Edwin Pérez Sánchez
Local Coordinator in Campeche, México
Biodiversity and  Sustainable Agrosilvopastoral Livestock Landscapes – BioPaSOS – CATIE
[email protected]