2019 – PICA Agricultural Program in Nicaragua

Location:The Republic of NicaraguaTerm of Cooperation: 
Year: 2019 March 18th – March 25th
Implementing Organizations: Palestinian International Cooperation Agency – PICA The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture The Palestinian Agricultural Syndicate The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics NARC (Palestinian National Agricultural Research Center)SDG: 
Background: The Palestinian International Cooperation Agency (PICA) has implemented the agreed points of cooperation decided previously in the exploratory visit to Nicaragua to strengthen and solidify the bonds between the two nations under the umbrella of solidarity and development in many fields regarding knowledge sharing in agricultural and medical arenas. PICA staff and experts have engineered specific theoretical and practical capacity building programs and workshops that aims to promote and transfer the agricultural experience of the Palestinian experts to their fellow Nicaraguans in the relevant fields. The strategic programs in agriculture will focus in the fields mentioned before and create a significant improvement per each segment in the Nicaraguan agricultural sector, and will be in a continuous cooperation and improvement cycle which will be sparked and given momentum each year.
Purpose: The aim of this mission is to transfer the Palestinian agricultural knowledge and expertise to the Republic of Nicaragua through capacity building programs to over 113 veterinarian, agricultural engineer and governmental agricultural officials. The main scope for now is to build up over the previous experiences and further with the recommendation of the mission experts with new agricultural interventions that elevate the qualitative and quantitative agricultural aspects of the Nicaraguan agricultural sector
Outputs: 1. Progression in the Nicaraguan agricultural expertise. 2. Touching the needs of simple families through a scalable project that can be implemented in houses through cooperatives and community based programs. 3. Opening new horizons for improved products and higher production. 4. Soil treatment and preparations for new agricultural techniques. 5. TOT trainings for over 113 Vets and engineers in different fields of agriculture including: ( Artificial insemination, customized ration formulation, soil solarization, Green Houses management, irrigation networks and techniques, vegetables added value production) 6. Raising awareness for the proper agricultural practices. 7. Increased production with the lowest agricultural cost to increase the farmers’ margins until reaching food security limits.
Activities: 1. Workshops in five different groups of approximately 25 attendees for one intensive week of 8 hours a day. 2. Warehouse management and on-ground seeds planting. 3. Practical training for artificial insemination and added value agricultural production. 4. Meetings with University presidents discussing courses and future cooperation. 5. Agricultural statistics programs
Working Framework: PICA created an algorithm that integrates the capacities of the Palestinian public and private sectors to fulfill the needs that were studied carefully in the exploratory mission, then a pre-engineered program was provided with the highest standards of service to the stakeholders of the Nicaraguan public and private sectors whether in agriculture or in health.
Beneficiaries: The Republic of Nicaragua Ministry of Agriculture and Statistics Ministry of Family Economies, Cooperatives and Communities The National Institute for Agricultural Production and Technologies Other relevant agricultural and academic institutes and centers