Panama City, November 6, 2024 – As part of the project “Innovation for the Reduction of Agro-Environmental Risks in Central American Dry Corridor Countries – Agricultural Zoning of Climate Risk (ZARC) and Water Resource Management,” a series of four virtual workshops was held, focusing on technologies and social innovations for water resource management in drought-prone areas. This project is implemented jointly by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC/MRE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), within the framework of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation Program.

The training cycle included nearly 200 representatives from government institutions of countries in the Central American Integration System (SICA) region, as well as international organizations connected to natural resource management and agriculture.

Mariana Falcão, project analyst at ABC/MRE, emphasized the importance of these meetings for sharing Brazil’s experiences, highlighting them as a key tool within the context of international cooperation.

For Pedro Boareto, regional coordinator of the project “Latin America and the Caribbean Without Hunger 2025,” which includes this series of activities, the experiences shared in these workshops exemplify how social capital can be generated to organize farmers, facilitating their access to technology. “Innovations and technologies need to be linked to a territorial development strategy and connected to local stakeholders to ensure solutions are tailored to their realities,” Boareto noted.

Best Practices for Living in Arid Zones

The Central American Dry Corridor is home to around 10.5 million people, half of whom live in poverty. Nearly two million families rely on subsistence farming, facing ongoing risks of food insecurity. In Brazil, the semi-arid region covers 12% of the national territory and has approximately 28 million residents spread between urban (62%) and rural (38%) areas, making it one of the most densely populated semi-arid regions in the world.

During the four workshops, supported technically by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), topics discussed included rainwater harvesting, soil studies, technologies for gray water reuse in Brazil's semi-arid regions, underground dam technology, and EMBRAPA's "Sisteminha," a sustainable production strategy for Brazil's semi-arid region.

Throughout the cycle, researchers who facilitated the discussions explained the development and implementation processes of various innovations, underscoring the importance of adapting each solution to local conditions. Flávio Marques, a researcher from Embrapa Soils, highlighted the importance of careful soil management—a non-renewable resource—to optimize production and the benefits generated by different technologies.

The technical team underscored the importance of the concept of living with drought, meaning that technological solutions should be integrated with the social dynamics of territories facing water scarcity. Júlia Rosas from the Semi-Arid Articulation (ASA) highlighted this essential component by presenting ASA’s trajectory and how social technologies have democratized water access, showing the opportunities the semi-arid region offers to farmers.

The next cycle of workshops under this capacity-building agenda will be held on November 26 and December 11, focusing on policies and experiences in accessing financing for family farming, with an emphasis on the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (Pronaf) and financing operations experiences from the Bank of the Northeast of Brazil (BNB) and the National Union of Family Farming and Solidarity Economy Cooperatives (Unicafes).