Good Practice on Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems. Los Alpes Agroecological School

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America, and agriculture is one of the engines of economic and social development. The agricultural sector contributes 16.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 33 percent of formal employment and the food security of the population. There are 260 000 producers involved in agricultural production.

The present experience has been developed in Cantagallo in the municipality of Condega, in the department of Estelí, which has been declared an Ecological Park by the Mayor's office. Agricultural production in Cantagallo is focused on small livestock, vegetables, high-altitude coffee, basic grains, potatoes, and others. The school model is based on the experience developed by the Organic Agriculture Movement of Nicaragua (MAONIC), in which agroecological technological innovations are promoted through a "learning by doing" approach and is being developed in the Municipal Climate Change platform, an entity led by the Mayor's Office of Condega, with the participation of public and private actors.

The objective of the school is to provide producers with knowledge and skills in agroecological production, in order to achieve the transition from conventional production with practices that affect the environment, to a sustainable production system based on agroecology with inputs mostly coming from the farms.