Agricultural education is widely accepted as a vital part of economic development – particularly for countries such as Paraguay where half the population is rural. A major problem is that low-income countries just don’t have the money to provide such education free to all those that could benefit from it.
The solution? A school that pays for itself – a self-sufficient farm school.
The Fundación Paraguaya’s pilot project is attempting to be just that. We’re well on our way to converting a regular, heavily-subsidized, agricultural high school into a self-sufficient farm school – and what’s more we’re fully organic!
What we’re doing is creating a new model, one with the potential to bring agricultural education to a far wider audience.
One school can make a difference.
How can a school be self-sufficient?
Agriculture is a practical subject. So whilst there’s a place for theory, our students spend half their time outside the classroom learning ‘in-the-field’. Farming is also a business, so students learn not only to increase yields, but also how to maximize profits. Marketing and selling their produce builds their confidence as agro-entrepreneurs – and the income from these.
San Francisco Agriculture SchoolSan Francisco Agriculture School
Promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship in young Paraguayan small rural farmers is the objective of the San Francisco Agriculture School, Fundación Paraguaya’s most recent educational program. The Congregation of the La Salle Brothers transferred the school to Fundación Paraguaya at the end of 2002. The Fundación made a commitment to continue with educational work they and the Congregation of the San Francisco Missionary Brothers had carried out since its inception in 1962.
The Agriculture School is situated in the area called Cerrito, on the outskirts of the city of Benjamín Aceval, Department of Villa Hayes, (the Paraguayan Chaco) at Km 46.5 of the Trans Chaco Highway. It has almost 7000 square meters of relatively modern buildings, electricity, a telephone line and drinking water from artesian wells. The land is apt for agriculture, raising livestock and is reforested, which makes it unique in the area. Its campus has a surface of 62 hectares, of which Fundación Paraguaya purchased 14 and 48 hectares were a donation with stipulations as to use.
The commitment Fundación Paraguaya made to the Congregation of the La Salle Brothers is as follows:
1. Continue giving technical education on agriculture and livestock to young, rural farmers of scarce means and introduce academic and administrative reforms.
2. Invest resources to subsidize the School’s deficit, build new infrastructure; open credit lines and provide technical assistance for graduates.
3. Maintain the boarding school system; and
4. Develop self-help and advisory programs for graduates to be able to apply what they learned at the School in their communities of origin, and facilitate access to credit for production enabling them to carry out viable projects.
In total, the commitment is approximately Gs. 2.4 billon in the 2003-2007 period.
