A total of 51 family greenhouses were handed over in the Hampaturi area of the city of La Paz, within the context of the conclusion of the Emergency Programme financed by the Italian Development Cooperation with an overall contribution of €1.1 million.
The Programme, active since February 2012, serves 8 districts and 12 communities of the Bolivian departments of Cochabamba and Pando in La Paz, under the auspices of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The project aimed to aid the populations affected by the 2011 weather phenomenon known as La Niña, and its main interventions sought to strengthen, monitor and increase accuracy in the prediction of extreme climate events, and included the adoption of strategies for the gradual adaptation to the climate variability impacting on the food industry.
8 projects financed
The Programme fell within the broader portfolio of emergency projects that the Italian Cooperation has been backing in Bolivia for the 2006-2013 period. In this particular phase, 8 projects were funded, 4 of which by FAO, with the goal of mitigating the effects of natural disasters, supporting the reactivation of farming production and ensuring food security, with an overall contribution of nearly $10 million.
Aid to the city of La Paz
One of the Programme’s components consists of direct support to the city of La Paz, which was struck by a series of landslides in 2011 that caused serious damage to production in 8 of the city’s outlying districts. The creation of 51 family run greenhouses was flanked by the realization of a rain-water collection system, a community seed store, a series of livestock healthcare interventions and risk management training courses for the local people.
Speech by the mayor of La Paz
Present at the consignment of the greenhouses was Mayor of La Paz Luis Revilla, FAO representative in Bolivia Crispim Moreira and Director of the Italian Cooperation UTL in La Paz Felice Longobardi, in addition to other technical officials from the Municipal Government of La Paz, FAO and the residents of the Hampaturi basin. Everyone present expressed their satisfaction with the conclusion of the activities, carried out with appropriate techniques in a participatory manner in keeping with a gender approach and a view to sustainability. In his speech, the mayor of La Paz thanked the Italian Cooperation and FAO for their support and collaboration, both in terms of technical assistance as well as programme execution.