Talking points for the AIFLD proposal submitted on behalf of the Confederacion Costarricense de Trabajadores Democraticos - CCTD

Project training, the most critical component, will aim at doubling CCTD membership to 1,500. Both agrarian union education and technical courses will be offered. Established CCTD base groups will be used as training sites for some 150 local courses, e.g., on CCTD organization, democratic principles, and how to participate in credit and marketing activities; 10 regional and 5 national level courses will be held each year, e.g., on CCTD promotion, administration, leadership, and policymaking. To strengthen the capabilities of the CCTD"s Agrarian Union Department (AUD) to manage agricultural services, the project will recruit a professional staff, provide training and operations manuals for AUD personnel; and establish an accounting system and financial controls for the AUD"s 5 service components. Loans in the form of farm inputs will be provided through an AUD revolving credit fund to 750 farmers who have no access to production credit through the National Banking System, enabling them to gain experience and a credit history; after 2 years - 4 crop cycles - borrowers will be "graduated" to the national system. To estalbish marketing services in the 2 project regions of Rio Frio and San Isidro (supervised by a manager in San Jose), the project will provide 2 10-ton trucks and 2 2-ton pickups to transport members" produce and farm inputs; build a produce/input supply storage warehouse in each region; and rent a warehouse in San Jose for short-term storage. Delivery quotas will be raffled among farmers to ensure equitable distribution. The CCTD will be required to finance 25% of program salaries and operating costs beginning in year 2, and 50% from year 3; marketing will bear all operating costs and depreciation after year 1. Each region will receive TA from an agronomist assisted by teams of farmer-para-technicians, each of whom will provide intense TA to 30 farmers per crop cycle in recordkeeping, investment planning, and programming planting dates and harvest quotas to meet market opportunities. Two farmers from each group of 30 will be trained to assume local coordination duties, e.g., with CCTD technicians.