Call for Proposals: Driving Sustainability in Agri-Food Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

Objective

• The objective of this call is to identify regional research, development and innovation projects with a strong impact on the ground that promote efficiency and resilience, and reduce the environmental footprint in the agri-food systems of Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • This call is aimed at strategies I and II of the 2020-2025 PMP, which aim to increase the number of technologies and innovations with high potential for adoption and impact on the resilience and sustainability of farms, agroecosystems and territories. Initiatives must be based on prior scientific knowledge, and must promote new innovations or validate existing, promising or successful ones, in order to meet the objective of the call. Considering the above, the interests of FONTAGRO member countries and potential co-financing agencies, some examples of topics consistent with this call are presented, which present complementarity or combination of technological, organizational and institutional innovations:
    • Increased productivity and efficiency of agricultural, livestock or mixed systems with reduced emissions or a decrease in the environmental footprint. Projects that demonstrate how groups of producers implement technologies that increase the productivity and efficiency of production systems and at the same time manage to reduce GHG emissions or reduce other aspects of the environmental footprint. Some innovative solutions may be those that reduce GHG emissions associated with agricultural or livestock production or that reduce other aspects of the environmental footprint.
    • Quantification of GHG emissions. Projects that focus on the precise measurement and estimation of GHG emissions with a particular focus on methane gas and on the evaluation of the reductions achieved through innovative agricultural or livestock practices will be considered. Proposals that develop new quantification methodologies or that adapt existing technologies to measure emissions will be considered, thus contributing to greater precision in the evaluation of environmental impact. Initiatives aimed at improving the activity data necessary for the more precise estimation of emissions from productive systems and sectors at the national or sub-national level will also be considered. The results will improve the capacity of national governments to Monitor, Report and Verify GHG emissions and removals in their Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR) in the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), and the mitigation commitments assumed in the NDCs under the Paris Agreement.
    • Sustainable intensification of production systems, agroecosystems and local natural resource management, using combined strategies for adaptation and mitigation to climate change. The objective is to identify technologies and innovations that increase productivity in a sustainable manner, promoting improved income and quality of life for producers, integrated management of farms in networks, smart agriculture technologies, strategic diversification of production, new mixed and complementary production models, implementation of agroecological practices, smart management of fertility, water and soil use, sustainable management of the ecosystem and biodiversity, and which demonstrate greater and better resilience of production systems. Opportunities for mitigation and adaptation synergies are sought, which generate a greater probability of generating benefits for producers as they adapt to climate change.
    • Strategies for better transfer of knowledge, technologies and innovations to producers on the ground. Strategies to improve the transfer processes to beneficiaries (producers, cooperatives, producer associations), demonstrating concrete results and impacts on the ground, on producers’ farms, including actions to exchange experiences on practices that include extension, the use of traditional knowledge and learning and leadership methods, the development of leadership capacity and equal opportunities for women and young people.

Funding Information

• Amount of the Call: This call will be carried out with FONTAGRO’s own resources. The total amount of the call amounts to $1,000,000. FONTAGRO will co-finance up to five projects for a maximum of $200,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Regional Innovation Platform (PRI): Regional Innovation Platforms (PRI) or existing or new regional innovation consortia, made up of public agents or public-private alliances that meet to design and implement a regional technical cooperation project in compliance with the terms of reference of this call, will be co-financed. All projects must include producers, producer groups, associations, cooperatives, all of them as recipients of the project’s achievements.
• PRI Participants: PRIs should promote practices and/or institutional arrangements that promote the public and/ or public-private entrepreneurial ecosystem and link producers and science and technology stakeholders. The latter should be identified and included from the initial moment of the PRI.
• Project presentation: PRIs must link the different actors with the users or final beneficiaries. To do so, they must be made up of:
  • at least one public or private scientific research center (university or national research institute),
  • the direct beneficiaries who must be included in the testing or validation process (producers),
  • an entrepreneur or entrepreneurial team (optional),
  • other associated organizations (optional), and
  • research organizations from the United States of America, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the European Union, who will participate as associated organizations in the PRI.
• From the point of view of the administrative implementation of the project, “only one of the institutions” must act as “executing agency” (EA) and, therefore, must be legally authorized to act as such and manage funds in United States dollars on behalf of the rest of the participants. The rest of the participants will act as co-executing agencies (if they receive FONTAGRO funds from the EA) and optionally as associated organizations (if they participate with their own funds).
• Technical role of participants: PRI participants must be multi- and interdisciplinary and demonstrate a multidimensional approach (scientific, productive-agronomic, social, economic, technological, environmental, valueadded, among others) consistent with the technology or innovation to be validated. From the point of view of the complementarity of technical functions, participants may be public or private institutions, at the national, regional and/or international level.
• General Aspects of Regionality: This call prioritizes the creation of platforms made up of partners from different regions and with diverse capacities and strengths in technical disciplines to complement each other. The following regions are recognized: Southern Cone,  Andean Region,  Central America, Caribbean Region, and  extra-LAC region. It is noted that FONTAGRO may only finance institutions from member countries, while other donors may choose to support initiatives made up of member countries or not of FONTAGRO, but always members of the IDB.
• Specific Aspects of Regionality: FONTAGRO will co-finance projects executed by public institutions or public private partnerships from at least two FONTAGRO member countries. This means that the activities to be carried out in the project must be implemented in at least those two member countries. Once this requirement is met, other institutions from countries that are not members of FONTAGRO, but always members of the IDB, and regional and international organizations may participate as associated organizations with a facilitating or complementary role, and with their own resources.
• Other Aspects of Global Regionality: Institutions from countries that are not members of the IDB may participate by contributing their own funds to the project, either by entering into an agreement with the IDB, legal representative of FONTAGRO, or directly with the PRI institutions and in agreement with the IDB/FONTAGRO in accordance with the policies and regulations of these institutions.

For more information, visit FONTAGRO.