Regional Initiative for the Dry Corridor

THE PROPOSAL

Central American Dry Corridor: Building Resilience

The Central American Dry Corridor is a geographical area 1,600 kilometers long and 100-400 kilometers wide, covering 44% of the surface of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, where 11.5 million people live in rural municipalities and more than half work in agriculture. The region and its agriculture are vulnerable to risks associated with climate change (long periods of drought, followed by intense rains), which has caused a significant economic impact and threatened food security.

In addition, there a high migration rate of young people (average age 24) from these territories, whose remittances comprise the bulk of the national income in their countries of origin.

Given these environmental, economic, and social context, in which agriculture plays an important role, the Hand-in-Hand Initiative would help make progress toward poverty reduction and create new opportunities here.

Under the leadership of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Central American Agricultural Council (CAC), Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), and the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA), four plans for investment have been prepared to build resilience in the Central American Dry Corridor.

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

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Micro-, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Digital Ecosystems for Access to Markets

• Objective: Strengthen the entrepreneurship of MSMEs, rural cooperatives, and other forms of family-farming organizations through digital ecosystems to boost access to markets.

• Location: This will benefit 288 municipalities, consisting of 109 high-priority and 179 medium-priority municipalities, with high agricultural potential.
  

• Beneficiaries: 22,400 agri-food producers linked to rural businesses; 1,500 MSMEs, rural cooperatives, producer organizations in the prioritized countries and municipalities; four service centers for MSMEs, one for each country.
  

Technological Innovation: Water Supply Systems

• Objective: Promote Resilient Agriculture Adapted to Climate Change; establish digital services for the transition to sustainable agricultural systems, adapted to climate change and efficient use of resources; broaden and improve the scientific bases that allow increasing agricultural productivity.

• Location: This intervention has the same location coverage as the MSMEs and digital ecosystems intervention above.
  

• Beneficiaries: 12,343 families, or 70,000 individuals, in the Dry Corridor will have access to water. Additional 100 supply systems will be built to increase water availability. This will build capacity of experts and employees in the public and private sectors, and agricultural producers.

Technological Innovation: Digital Soil Mapping

• Objectives: Establish digital services to facilitate the transition to sustainable agricultural systems, adapting to climate change and efficiently using resources; expand and improve the scientific base to increase agricultural productivity, inform decision-making on agricultural potential under climate variability.

• Location: This intervention covers the same 288 municipalities, with national-coverage potential for all four participating countries once the digital soil mapping base is installed. 

• Beneficiaries: More than 1.5 million agricultural producers in the Dry Corridor will benefit from the efforts, especially as they cut production costs and boost productivity. Experts and employees in the public and private sectors, academia and NGOs will have a chance to build their knowledge and capacity in management of digital soil mapping. Finally, policymakers and farmers will have access to more information to aid their resource management decisions.

Technological Innovation: Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning

• Objective: Promote climate-smart agriculture; inform decision-making on agricultural potential under climate variability.

• Location: This intervention covers the same aforementioned 288 municipalities, with coverage potential at the national level in all four countries once the foundation for agricultural climate risk zoning is established.
  

• Beneficiaries: More than 1.5 million agricultural producers in the Dry Corridor will benefit from these efforts. It will build capacity of experts and employees in the public and private sectors, academia and NGOs in the four countries as they manage the use of zoning. Finally, the beneficiaries will have access to financial products and services for safe investments in agriculture.

LATEST UPDATES

Explore the latest updates about the initiative:

• Special Bulletin SECA (in Spanish)
  
• Instancias del SICA y la FAO impulsan Diálogo Mano de la mano – Construyendo Resiliencia en el Corredor Seco y Zonas Áridas de la Región del SICA (press-release in Spanish)