Hello, who are you?

My name is Héctor García, main facilitator of the potato niche in Honduras. I am originally from La Esperanza Intibucá in the south west of the country, the main potato production area in Honduras. I graduated as an agronomist and have 15 years’ experience in rural development working in several NGOs. For the past four years I have been an extension technician for the Papa Sana Seed Reproduction project, executed by DICTA with the technical and financial support of ICDF Taiwan, facilitating technical advisory processes in the field, specializing in seed and commercial potato production. In this context, we develop participatory research and validation processes for new genetic material of potato and other vegetables. The project also aims to facilitate the linkage to markets accompanying processes of certification of production lots and on-farm producers. In August 2016, I started as a facilitator within the CDAIS project, after having been proposed by the Directorate of Agricultural Science and Technology DICTA

What has CDAIS changed for you?

Participating in an innovative project such as CDAIS with a capacity-building approach and very aptly with the agrochains approach has changed my development perspective. The project has a new model, at least in my country, of intervention that targets the collaborative execution of actions by a group of actors to achieve a common vision, and them to become actors in their own development, with valuable contributions that jointly push the cart in the same direction. Strengthening functional capacities are achieving evident changes that in their sum, contribute to the achievement of their proposed vision regardless of whether they are from programmes or related projects. The CDAIS has a definite timeframe, but my potato niche is my life, because apart from being the facilitator, I am an internal actor of the niche. This is a privileged position and at the same time a great challenge, to push collaborative actions sustainably over time. Without a doubt, being involved in my niche now in a different way, thanks to CDAIS, is a rewarding and enriching experience.