Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were the countries of operation of INNOVA AF, whose implementation between 2019 and 2022 involved 713 young people from rural territories, 1,127 women and 865 members of indigenous peoples.

The objective of the program was to generate and transfer innovations and knowledge that will enable family farming to adapt to the new conditions generated by climate change. More than 60 innovations in technology, products, technical tools and capacity building and governance were implemented, which will serve as inputs for generating differentiated public policies for small-scale agriculture.

INNOVA AF had the support of local, national and regional organizations and was able to maintain a constant connection with the productive sector, despite the fact that its launch coincided with the beginning of the pandemic.

"It is one of the most successful programs developed in conjunction with IICA, since it made it possible to lead efforts and contribute to making adaptation to climate change in family agriculture a reality", said Rossana Polastri, FIDA´s Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

"We are in the harvest stage of the project, which, thanks to the trust placed in us by FIDA and eight countries, we were able to implement successfully. The new global context and the emergence of technology are also part of the systematization of good practices that was carried out", said Miguel Arvelo, Chief of Staff of the Director General of IICA and the Institute's Representative in Costa Rica.

The project strategy consisted of implementing innovative practices for adapting to climate change through 11 projects in the eight countries. It also focused on the generation, systematization, dissemination and reuse of knowledge from the same practices, as well as from other similar projects and the construction of territorial networks.

The closing session of INNOVA AF featured participants from the eight countries in the territories, who shared their experiences and lessons learned. Also participating were organizations that executed actions in the territories: POAB, AS-PTA, SERTA, FEPP, Red COMAL, IHCAFE, ASEDECHI, ASORECH; and strategic partners such as the Instituto Nacional del Semiárido (INSA) of Brazil, the Prefecture of Loja and the Consortium of Autonomous Provincial Governments in Ecuador, the Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural de México (SADER), PRODEZSA-CONAFOR and FAUTAPO of Bolivia and UNDP of Colombia.

Miguel Altamirano, Technical Coordinator of INNOVA AF; Mario León, Manager of IICA's Territorial Development and Family Agriculture Program; Miguel Ángel Arvelo, Chief of Staff of the Institute; Claus Reiner, Director of IFAD in Brazil; and Eduardo Robert, Executive President of INDER of Costa Rica, during the closing event of INNOVA AF.

Implementing innovative practices for adaptation to climate change promotes the resilience of the territories, commented Claus Reiner, FIDA Director in Brazil: "The solutions presented by the countries have been very diverse and create a wealth for the territories and their organizations, in addition to favoring the generation of knowledge in the field with the appropriation of the producers and that will continue to scale with the partners who have contributed to INNOVA AF".

"This initiative leaves an impact on the territories and scaling processes that remain open with new opportunities and initiatives that will directly impact mitigation and adaptation to climate change in those places", said Miguel Altamirano, technical coordinator of INNOVA AF.

"Today, agriculture 3.0 is no longer enough and we already have the need for food production based on precision agriculture. Today we see how IICA, with the support of its partners, has been evolving as required", said Eduardo Robert, Executive President of the Institute for Instituto de Desarrollo Rural de Costa Rica

As a legacy of the project, more than 100 manuals, technology primers, demonstration videos on innovative practices and technologies were published, as well as the document The Challenges of Family Farming in the Face of Climate Change. Building the rural transition in Latin America, which will present the innovations, scaling-up strategies and lessons learned from INNOVA AF, useful for building new models of rural development with a focus on adaptation to climate change.

The materials will be available in IICA's institutional repository.

The presentation of the innovations and their impacts was part of the exchange and closing workshop of INNOVA AF, Innovation Pathways for the Adaptation of Family Farming to Climate Change.