Advancing food security through agroecological technologies: the implementation of the biointensive method in the dry corridor of Nicaragua

Abstract

In contrast with international food assistance programs, or with the new green revolution based on the sustainable intensification of agriculture, this work proposes an agroecological technology to overcome food insecurity problems in countries like Nicaragua, most especially in rural areas. In particular, it analyzes the effects of implementing the biointensive method—an agroecological food production initiative that is highly labor-intensive, but requires little land—in various communities of the Dry Corridor in Nicaragua. This project is the result of establishing an international consortium for development cooperation where grassroots communities played a prominent role. The main results are an improvement in local food security and a strengthening of the communities’ capacity to face major challenges arising from poverty and climate change, the effects of which are increasingly noticeable in Central America. The main weakness identified is that the necessary tropicalization of the method has not been sufficiently tested, for a two-year period is too short a time to transform the prevailing rural development dynamics significantly.