Sowing water, harvesting life
Name of the project: Sowing water, harvesting life
Call for proposals theme: Water stewardship
Grant awarded: £50,000
Project budget: £87,944.86
Ingenio San Antonio is a modern agroenergetic mill dedicated to the sustainable production of clean energy, bioethanol, sugar, and molasses.
The project is run in partnership with CompañÃa Licorera de Nicaragua, a producer of rum and liquors from molasses, and CNPA, an industry organisation that brings together the four sugar mills in Nicaragua to promote the country’s sugarcane sector at national and international levels.
Purpose of the project
The ‘Sowing water, harvesting life’ project aims to promote sustainable use of water resources and mitigate the effects of climate change. This will be done through innovative practices of reforestation, soil conservation, and water harvesting in the areas surrounding Ingenio San Antonio (ISA), a sugar mill owned by Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited.Â
The initiative aims to establish a close collaboration with local producers to improve the stewardship of water resources and drive positive impacts at the watershed level. The implementation of innovative practices will significantly increase surface water infiltration, replenishing groundwater aquifers* to ensure water availability for local communities and long-term irrigation of sugarcane plantations.Â
It will focus on three main areas:
- Demonstrate good practices (eg. zoning, reforestation, gully erosion control, water harvesting, surface reservoirs) to small and medium producers: a model farm called ‘La Paciencia’ and five local farms will serve as spaces for demonstration and knowledge transfer.
- Build knowledge and skills among these producers: a learning circuit based on successful experiences will be established. It will use the ‘Farmer Field Schools’ (FFS) model as a participatory methodology for rural training.
- Create a monitoring and impact and evaluation system: using global climate observation tools, climate data from weather stations and rain gauges of ISA, a system that tracks and measures impact will be developed. Reports will be generated and shared with communities, institutions and other interested parties.
*a body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.
Location
The project will be rolled out in the adjacent areas of Ingenio San Antonio, in the highlands of Estero El Limón sub-watershed, on the hills of the San Cristóbal volcanic chain, 200 to 1,600 metres above sea level. These areas are the main source of irrigation water for 40% of ISA’s sugarcane plantations.
For the implementation of the pilot project, a representative area of 600 hectares was selected in the rural community of El Pellizco Central. In this area, ‘La Paciencia’, a 170-hectare farm will serve as the model farm.
Why this project?
The Bonsucro Impact Fund supports collaborative, scalable and innovative projects that accelerate sustainable sugarcane production.
Scalability
Ultimately, the project partners aim to replicate the experiences and good practices learnt on 300 small privately owned farms, covering an area of approximately 5,000 hectares, over the next five years. This will contribute to recharging the underground aquifers and significantly reducing the water footprint of Ingenio San Antonio and other agricultural activities in the region.
The model farm and farms with successful trials from local producers will form a “teaching and learning” group, serving as demonstrative spaces and an innovative model to train others and disseminate knowledge.
The objective is to positively transform of sugarcane farming in the country. CNPA’s support is crucial in this scaling process, as it enables other mills in the western part of the country and at the regional level to replicate this experience.
Innovation
The project addresses sustainability challenges in a holistic manner, by fostering collaboration among different stakeholders, facilitating knowledge transfer, and providing climate change adaptation solutions.
Its comprehensive approach is addressed from a value chain perspective, and its potential for replication makes it an impactful initiative to promote sustainability in the sugar industry.
Sustainability
The pilot project will be carried out through collaboration agreements between five small producers and Ingenio San Antonio. The responsibility for operating and maintaining the investments will fall on the owners of the beneficiary farms and the sugar mill, once the project activities are concluded.
Based on the results of the pilot phase, indicators will be created to precisely measure and assess the scope and impact in the project’s intervention areas: reforested areas, harvested water volumes, areas with improved forest management, and CO2 absorption occurring in the restored forests. These impact indicators will be crucial to evaluate the project’s success and ensure its continued operation in the medium and long term.
The partners will engage with organisations and financial entities to secure resources for designing and implementing a model of payment for environmental services for reforestation, water harvesting, and CO2 absorption in the areas influenced by ISA’s value chains. This model will have the potential to be replicated with other companies in the sugar industry.
Expected outcomes
- Small and medium sugarcane producers see water stewardship practices and their impact firsthand…
- …and are equipped to replicate them and become water champions in their own operations.
- The sugar sector in Nicaragua manages water resources more sustainably.
Bonsucro Impact Fund
The Bonsucro Impact Fund invests in impact projects that address critical sustainability challenges in the sugarcane sector.
The Bonsucro Impact Funds uses income from the sale of Credits through the Bonsucro Credit Trading Platform.
All trades are charged a transaction fee, around 50% of which is invested into the Bonsucro Impact Fund.
Learn more about the Fund and check for grants available here.
Bonsucro Credit Trading
By purchasing Bonsucro credits for sugarcane, ethanol, molasses and raw sugar, companies support impact projects on the ground through the Bonsucro Impact Fund.
