Fintrac Harvest Summer 2009

Leaving behind a stronger El Salvador

During seven years and two projects, Fintrac dramatically increases farmer sales and sets standard for sustainability

SAN SALVADOR - When the USAID-funded Agricultural Diversification Program (ADP) in El Salvador ends later this summer, it will mark the end of Fintrac’s seven-year tenure in the country. The project built on the success of the previous program, IDEA, and helped farmers and agribusinesses generate $76 million in new sales by introducing them to improved production and processing methods while opening doors through marketing support.

Program agronomists made more than 24,000 farm extension visits and assisted more than 7,500 clients.

One of these farmers, Luciano GarcÍa, saw his profits skyrocket when Fintrac helped him build a low-cost greenhouse and provided technical assistance for tomato production. In his first year, he made a profit of $5,495, far greater than the $478 he made on average before Fintrac assistance.

In another intervention, Fintrac helped the Juárez family in La Paz improve their small cashew processing operation by introducing them to new equipment that increased their output of processed nuts and increased their gross income from $2,800 to $7,588.

Another client, Carmen Vásquez de Cartagena, saw how growers near her farm in La Palma, Chalatenango were able to increase their income with assistance from Fintrac. She stopped running a failing teak wood business and started with the ADP program in 2007.

In response to this and other challenges in Humera, Fintrac is showing farmers like Yohannes how to apply GAPs. Fintrac Agronomist Yitbarek Liben provided technical assistance at Yohannes’ 12-hectare farm, which serves as a demonstration site for project trainings.

“It was a new opportunity to succeed,” Vásquez said.

Under a co-financing agreement with the program, she built a greenhouse and established a calendarized system of tomato production. Today she earns $2,300 monthly from her farm and plans to diversify and expand.

Fintrac has been in El Salvador since 2002 when it launched the USAID-funded IDEA program, which generated $21 million in new sales. After that program ended in 2006, Fintrac set out to see how former client farmers were doing after they graduated from the program.

The survey found that nearly all graduate clients continued to implement the good agricultural practices promoted by the program including drip irrigation, raised beds, pesticide safety measures, and integrated pest management practices. Fintrac also found that farmers’ average annual sales remained at or above pre-graduation levels.

Post-project sustainablility in El Salvador is assured because Fintrac taught growers to treat farms as businesses.