Concentrated action module MAC for El Salvador; a proposal submitted to the European Economic Community

Abstract

The goal of the present project is to improve the well-being of rural people of the Department of Tejutla, Republic of El Salvador. The specific actions to achieve the goal are: to in­crease the knowledge of small farms systems of the area, conduct on-farm research, training of farmers and technical personnel and transfer system technology within the area. The activities will be conducted by an interdisciplinary team of specialists working wider CATIE's “Concentrated Action Modules” (MAC). The proposed area will be subjected to a socio economic and technical diagnosis where current small farm systems will be characterized and major constraints identified. Based on this results, field research will be conducted and validated on small farmers' plots. Training and technology transfer will be undertaken and an increasing number of farmers and change agents will be exposed to system technology. Initial actions will be developed in the Municipio of Tejutla, and in subsequent years the area of influence will be expanded in such a way that by the fifth year of the project, the whole Depart­ment of Chalatenango will be covered. These efforts will be coor­dinated with the government's development program for the northern zone and CATIE's other system research projects that will be working in the same area. The present project has a life span of four years, which ad­ded to an initial year of action already under way, will complete the required 5 years of reaching MAC's goals of local development. The total expenditure considered for four years in US$ l,l74.000.00.