10040386-Mejorar mecanismos políticos, técnicos y financieros para escalar la gestión sostenible de suelos en Bolivia

In the Bolivian High Plateau ("Altiplano") rural families rely on agriculture, livestock farming, and other economic activities -such as tourism and trade- to sustain their livelihoods. However, an acute soil degradation, frosts, droughts, hailstorms, and strong winds reduce productivity and increase the vulnerability of rural communities. Compounding this issue is migration to urban centres and other regions from youth and women.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE, 2025), more than 50% of rural families in the Altiplano live under poverty line, with limited access to technical, financial, and innovation services. All these factors result in greater vulnerability to climate change and a reduced adaptive capacity. In response Bolivia committed to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030 through soil restoration, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation; under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Sustainable soil management is a fundamental pillar for restoring soil health and strengthening agrifood systems and ecosystems resilience. Hence, the German Cooperation together with national subnational stakeholders, producers and civil society organizations will implement the Sustainable Soil Management for agrifood system adaptation and resilience Project (SUAGRI) to foster soil management through a comprehensive approach. This approach includes strengthening the political, regulatory, and institutional framework; developing a soil information and monitoring system; fostering soil technological innovation; managing bioinputs; and ensuring access to public and private financing mechanisms to farmers.

SUAGRI aims to improve and consolidate the political, regulatory, technical, and financial enable conditions to scale up sustainable soil management and biodiversity restoration in the Bolivian Altiplano. Thus, it contributes to increase agrifood systems and ecosystems resilience improving the livelihoods of households. SUAGRI proposes four components, described below:

1. Political and Regulatory Instruments: Improve norms and policy instruments to strengthen the regulatory framework, guiding territorial planning and public investments toward sustainable agricultural production. Through a participatory and multisectoral approach that brings together public, private, and local actors, it promotes policy coherence, inter-institutional coordination, and the integration of environmental, social, and economic criteria.
2. Soil Geoinformation: Generate and facilitate soil-related information to strengthen the availability, quality, and access to technical and scientific information for sustainable soil management. This enables better territorial and natural resource management. It also promotes the integration of traditional knowledge, with an emphasis on the participation of women and youth.
3. Financial mechanisms: Facilitate access to public and private financial mechanisms to scale up soil restoration and resilient agricultural production. This component is aimed at producers: micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the private sector, and civil society organizations. .
4. Integrated Bioinputs Management: To increase the supply and demand for bio-inputs (such as compost, humus, among others), under sustainability criteria that contribute to soil recovery and health; biodiversity; and resilient agricultural production.

This will be done with the participation of producer organizations and MSMEs, led primarily by women and rural youth.