Smallholder vegetable farmers face barriers to selling their produce directly to wholesale buyers

Asociacion DE dirigentes comunitarios (asdic) works to scale up its agricultural enterprise by improving marketability of its mushrooms, peas and sweet peas with official safety and quality certifications. Asdic also runs a community based junior high school. At the IAF, we support community-led solutions to expand economic opportunity in guatemala. Asdic's activities provide educational opportunities and promote smallholder agriculture and food production to enhance food security and ensure meaningful opportunities for communities to thrive. This grant is part of the IAF's efforts to address the root causes of irregular migration in central america. Amendment FY20: this amendment provides asdic with an additional two years and six months and $246,400 to reactivate the local economy in the wake of covid-19. In addition to meeting immediate needs for food aid and sanitizing equipment, asdic will provide working capital to help vegetable producers increase production and family incomes, and train youth for employment in the tourism sector. As part of the amendment, asdic is mobilizing an additional $187,550 in counterpart resources to the grant agreement. Amendment FY23: this amendment provides asdic with an additional two years and $189,300 to further the growth of its vegetable business and provide multiple avenues for increasing income for women and youth participants, enabling people to stay rooted in their communities. This includes building greenhouses for year-round vegetable production to reduce instability from extreme weather (hurricanes, floods, droughts), increasing mushroom production to meet greater demand, which creates jobs for women and expanding its community-based tourism offerings in SAN antonio palopo, a smaller tourist destination in the lake atitlan region. As part of the amendment, asdic is mobilizing an additional $253,650 in counterpart resources to the grant agreement.