Leveraging Municipal Government Support for Agricultural Value Chains in Nicaragua

This resource, from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), outlines their 4-phase strategy for creating a value-chain-friendly environment. Until recently, municipal governments in Nicaragua had not considered agricultural development to be part of their institutional mandate, making it difficult for small producers to competitively engage in agricultural value chains. CRS and its partners created the Alliance to Create Opportunities for Rural Development through Agroenterprise Relationships (ACORDAR) project in 2007. Since then, ACORDAR has helped more than 3,000 Nicaraguan farmers achieve a 98 percent increase in sales and a 117 percent increase in net income.