The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the South-South Cooperation project “Digital Transformation and innovation in agriculture” and its initiative “1000 Digital Villages in Latin America and the Caribbean”, held the first regional meeting for the planning of the rural digitization pilot program, which will support a hundred family farmers in the Ñuble region, located about 440 kilometers from Santiago de Chile.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile, through the Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP); the Regional Government of Ñuble and municipal governments of the area; the Undersecretary of Telecommunications of Chile (SUBTEL) and private companies of the branch; and by FAO, the technical coordinator of the FAO - China - CELAC project, Leonel Tapia, together with Eduardo Ramírez, coordinator of the “1000 Digital Villages” initiative.
In Ñuble, the participants of this program will be linked to a process of digital skills and online marketing, to attract special interest tourism such as vineyards and coastal among others. The inter-agency working team will seek to strengthen the connectivity of the lagging rural areas in 6 communes of the sector.
The technical coordinator of the project, Leonel Tapia, welcomed the interest, willingness and strong participation of all the sectors that participated in the meeting: “They showed very good will for collaborative work, so that technology reaches well and those who need it most, even more so in this pilot that is of special importance, because it involves family producers from the Itata Valley, an area rich in vineyards that was severely affected by the fires that occurred recently in the region.”
Coopeumo Experience
In addition to the aforementioned meeting, FAO representatives went to the O'Higgins region to learn about the digital connectivity experience designed and implemented by the Intercommunal Peasant Cooperative Peumo Ltda (Coopeumo).
About South-South Cooperation
This initiative is part of the FAO-China-CELAC project that is part of South-South Cooperation and financially and technically supports the design and implementation of rural digitalization pilot plans in: Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. His goal is to contribute to the implementation of technology in rural areas, to promote their recovery, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.
About the 1000 Digital Villages Initiative
In 2020, FAO launched the global initiative "1000 Digital Villages" to promote the digitalization of services in rural areas.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the initiative was launched based on ongoing rural tourism experiences, promoting connectivity, resources and digital solutions for thousands of people to improve their services, employment opportunities and income.
There are currently 14 countries in the region participating in the initiative: Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Venezuela.
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