The Colombian Prosperity Fund Programme is investing up to £3 million in seven new agriculture projects around the country. The projects are managed by consortia of private sector companies, academic bodies and civil society from the UK and Colombia. The expected impacts are greater agriculture productivity; inclusive growth; poverty reduction; gender equality; women’s economic empowerment, as well as new commercial opportunities between both countries.
The seven approved projects are:
1. Improving irrigation management to enhance the livelihoods of smallholder banana growers.
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UK partners: Climate Edge, Environment Systems and Cranfield University.
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Colombian partner: Fundeban.
2. Integrated trading platform and data analytics for Colombian small farmers.
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UK partner: Farming Data Limited.
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Colombian partners: Región Central, RAP-E, ASOCAFE Manantial and Patrimonio Natural.
3. Controlling cocoa bean fermentation for enhanced chocolate flavour.
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UK partners: Vegan Chocolates by Luisa Limited and University of Nottingham.
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Colombian partner: Fedecacao.
4. SatCafe – Satellite Remote Sensing for Improved and Sustainable Coffee Production.
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UK partner: Remote sensing applications Consultant.
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Colombian partner: GEOLAT SAS and Federación Nacional de Cafeteros.
5. Realizing equitable gender opportunities to improve smallholder coffee livelihoods using advances in digital technology.
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UK partners: CABI, Climate Edge and Assimila.
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Colombian partner: Cafexport.
6. Extending and Supporting Tilapia Aquaculture – ESTA.
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UK partners: Secure Harvests. Ltd and FishGen.
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Colombian partners: Fundación Kristoph van Houtem Romer.
7. Digitising cacao production in Colombia.
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UK partners: Agricompas Limited, University of Lincoln and University of Reading.
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Colombian partners: Fedecacao and Solidaridad Network.
The Agri-tech Challenge Fund competition opened on 26 March 2018, 50 proposals were submitted and 7 projects were successful In total, 11 companies, 4 non-profit organizations, 4 universities, 2 farmer associations, 2 foundations and 1 public organization will be part of the projects focussing on banana, cocoa, tilapia and coffee. The selected projects will bring innovation and new technologies from the UK to Colombia, especially to female smallholders in 17 different departments. All projects launched in April 2019. We congratulate all partners and are looking forward to seeing great benefits for Colombian farmers.
Originally published by Gov.UK