Productive milk project moves ahead with prizes for producers in Batallas

(La Paz , May 4, 2010)- Producers in the communities of Batallas municipality, La Paz department, Los Andes province, received calves, llamas, milking equipment, farming tools, fence building materials, feed for livestock and forage seeds as prizes for their participation in competitions organized by the "Batallas for Productive Development" project executed by Nuevo Norte and financed by CAF, the Dutch government, the Swiss Development Agency COSUDE, and Bolivia Competitive in Trade and Business BCCN of USAID.

With native music and the hullaballoo of the producers, the prize ceremony was held in the main plaza of Batallas on April 27, attended by municipal authorities, CAF director-representative in Bolivia Emilio Uquillas, representatives of Nuevo Norte, the Batallas Campesino Academic Unit and delegates from the milk and camelid producers of the region.

Uquillas said he was pleased to support Batallas in developing its productive sectors. CAF would continue to work to make this municipality "a productive land and an example for its children and grandchildren, and for the country as a whole." He added that the multilateral organization had been supporting the project with non-reimbursable cooperation funds since 2008.

Batallas Mayor Dámaso Quispe said, although the municipality had a high poverty rate, its inhabitants were now aiming to raise their quality of life through improvements in milk production, camelid breeding and development of byproducts, including production of ecological vegetables.

The next challenges, Quispe says, are operation of the milk processing plant, a plant for industrialization of camelids and export of products to the Andean countries, with the aim of converting the producing families into microenterprises.

In addition to the finance institutions, the project had strong support from the Batallas local government and contributions from producer families, consisting of manpower, building materials, forage seeds and other inputs.

The competitions

Since 2007, Nuevo Norte has organized competitions in Batallas with the support of its technical arm Pachamaman Urupa Qhantawii as part of the "Batallas for Productive Development" project. The methodology applied consists of involving the producer as leading actor in the technical assistance process, generating the possibility of creating technology that combines experimentally tested techniques, local knowledge and rituality.

On this occasion the producers took part in competitions that motivate and promote productive infrastructure such as stables, karwa utas (shelters for llamas), haylofts, kothañas (excavations to conserve water), better livestock management, conservation of native pastures, irrigation practices for efficient water use, development of milk and llama byproducts. These competitions are held annually in the agricultural calendar. The last prized were awarded in October 2009 to producers involved in fodder cultivation.

The manager of Nuevo Norte, Edson Espinoza, said the project had entered a new phase in which, from past experience and the results and impacts achieved, the proposed intervention would be more comprehensive and strategic. In addition to improving the income and quality of life of families of Batallas, this would implement a proposal to stimulate rural development, based on three pillars: strengthening the productive base, access to markets, and rational use of natural resources.

Project activities cover 39 communities in the municipality, three ecological zones (high, intermediate and low) and 57% of the 4,700 families resident in Batallas.