Overview

In many Latin American countries, outreach activities have often addressed technical and economical issues specific to small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers. Unfortunately, in most of cases, despite successful delivery of information to the target audiences, long-term adoption of novel practices for enhanced food safety, post-harvest handling, and processing techniques of horticultural products is low. The main objective of this proposal is to form an international (from US, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Guatemala and South Africa) team of researchers and Extension experts to gather preliminary information about current extension methodologies used in Latin America and identify barriers to adoption of enhanced practices for these important topics. The results of this exploratory project provide the basis to develop an innovative program (Pilot Project) that will result in effective technology transfer and sustainable changes in production. Collectively, these changes will improve the income of small-scale Latin-American horticultural farms.