Agricultural Technology & Land Management

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The main objective of the Agricultural Technology and Land Management Project is to assist Nicaragua in its move towards a market-oriented economy, and to increase and diversify agricultural output and exports, while preserving the country's natural resource base as one of the few viable alternatives to promote sustainable economic growth. By reactivating land markets, encouraging investment, creating employment opportunities and improving agricultural productivity and the incomes of small and medium farmers through better access to basic agricultural services, the project will help to ameliorate the country's extreme poverty. The project has two main components. The agricultural technology component will decentralize agricultural public sector services and support the development of a demand-driven mechanism for private and public research and extension. It will consolidate public research and technology transfer services into a new decentralized Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), incorporating soil conservation and pesticide management as integral parts of the system. Specifically, the project will, through INTA, support programs for: (a) technology transfer and validation to emphasize crop management research and extension focussed on small and medium farmers, including an artisanal seed program; (b) integrated pest management; (c) soil and water conservation; (d) research grants; and (e) academic studies. In addition, the agricultural technology component will support: (a) a pesticide management program, as part of establishing a national environmentally sound strategy for pesticide use and management; and (b) a private technical assistance program to help farmer groups contract technical assistance from the private sector. The land management component will support the design and implementation of a national cadastre, land titling and land registration system. Specifically, the project will: (a) streamline administration and improve inter-agency; (b) establish the basis for an efficient national cadastre; (c) strengthen the Public Register at the central and departmental levels; (d) support the issuance of 50,000 land titles, prioritizing beneficiaries by zones; (e) provide technical assistance and equipment to improve field supervision and quality control; and (f) finance studies aimed at establishing the legal administrative and technical groundwork for the future demarcation of the boundaries of indigenous lands and natural reserves.