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Learning document

PRODUCTIVE USES OF ENERGY

for small organisations
agricultural and livestock farming in
Bolivia

Challenge
Agriculture is the main economic activity of small
farmers who make their living from family farming in
Bolivia. Although this agriculture involves more than
2 million people of peasant and indigenous origin, it is
characterised by the predominant use of family labour
with little technological influence and limited access
to resources (land, water and capital), which limits the
competitiveness and profitability of their productive
activity.
Increasing agricultural productivity is a key factor for
food security, income generation, development of
rural areas and thus poverty reduction. Higher
productivity requires improvements that can be
enhanced through the use of energy and modern
technologies at each stage of the production chain.

Gap in access to energy and Gap in access to energy and

modern technologies modern technologies

Women with the largest gaps in

Low value-added capacity and access to technology, training
limited access to markets and markets

Target
Facilitate access to modern energy technologies for productive uses and the articulation with market
systems for micro and small enterprises and rural productive organisations.

According to our theory of change, this will influence:

1 The improvement of economic benefits - income and/or employment - directly for the
entrepreneurs (individual or associated).
2
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 Improving the economic and financial sustainability of rural electrification projects.
Improving the Human Development Index.
3 ingenious idea
Our
Practical Action has been working in Bolivia since
2010 promoting the productive use of energy under
a market approach in different value chains such as
vegetables (irrigation), cocoa, coffee, dairy,
camelids, bananas and tourism. Since 2020, in the
framework of a joint work with the EnDev Bolivia
programme and GIZ funds, we are consolidating
our implementation model seeking to scale it up in
new value chains and territories, through access to
modern energy technologies; support and
specialised advice on the use, maintenance and
governance of technologies; and capacity building
in business management for market access.

Financial incentive for access to technologies

One of the pillars of Practical Action is the mobilisation of local resources to generate
ownership and sustainability, which is not to support with 100% of the cost of technological
solutions, but to provide economic incentives (subsidies) seeking greater counterpart from
local organisations. Our main contribution is in technical advice to facilitate access to
technology that works with modern and clean energy, such as conventional electricity, solar,
wind or other renewable energies; which includes the selection of the technology, and training
in the use, maintenance and governance of the technology.
Technological innovations for productive uses
Practical Action encourages the development of technological innovations. This includes the
identification of demands and opportunities for innovative and novel technologies for the local
context (appropriate technologies), and gender and environmentally sensitive technologies.
Articulation to market systems at three levels
a) Market for technology suppliers, facilitating the meeting between technological supply and
demand with the aim of ensuring sustainability (after-sales service and adaptation of
technology to the needs of rural areas).
b) Value-added products processed with modern energy, with special emphasis on identifying
the added value of your product and market segmentation, so that you can identify the
characteristics and possible market niches. We promote access to short marketing circuits,
domestic and/or export markets through commercial alliances.
c) Access to financial services, through technical assistance for the development of business
plans oriented to the formal financial sector, with an emphasis on providing technical
assistance to women's organisations.
Development of capacities, skills and practices in rural business management.
We promote the development and strengthening of training in rural business management:
determination of production costs (unit, volume, break-even point, etc.) and management of
rural entrepreneurship.

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 Main achievements 2020-2021
70% of the economic investment corresponds to the economic incentive and 30% to the local
contribution of the agricultural organisations.
Support to the national industry for the development and adaptive innovation of technology
for the extraction of honey from melipona bees, the classification of dry cocoa beans and the
production of calcium polysulphide.
The purchase of nationally manufactured equipment and machinery was promoted (8 are
manufactured in the country and 3 were imported).

Value chain Users Technology Use

Dairy 14 Pico solar lamp Improving the safety of the milking process
Melipona bee
135 Honey harvesting pump Harvesting of native honey free of impurities
honey
Baking 25 Kneading machine Automatic mixing of dough ingredients
Coffee 186 Coffee roaster Automatic roasting of dry coffee beans
Solar thermal system for
Camelids 36 Cleaning the casing with pressurised water
carcass pressure washer
Cocoa 30 Cocoa shelling machine Automatic peeling of roasted cocoa beans
Cocoa 115 Cocoa sorting machine Cleaning and sorting of dry cocoa beans
Quinoa 54 Quinoa sorting machine Cleaning and sorting of dried quinoa grain
Quinoa 56 Quinoa scarifying machine Scarifying and cleaning of dried quinoa grain
Automated process for calcium polysulphide
Quinoa 1.387 Bioinputs plant automation
production

We work in 7 value chains (quinoa, coffee, cocoa, native honey, camelids, bakery and dairy
products).
The incorporation of technology achieved*:
- Optimise and reduce working times by 72%.
- Reduce production costs by 66%.
- Production capacity increased by 432%.
Although this data is general, there are variations in percentages for each enterprise.

2,038 permanent and/or temporary occupations were generated.

5 organisations with national markets and 6 organisations participate in the local market.
351 people trained in rural business management in person, despite the scenario by Covid-19,
and 516 people trained virtually in alliance with the Federation of Municipal Associations of
Bolivia.

There was a high level of participation and interest among women compared to men during the
training sessions, both face-to-face and online. Out of 866 people, 465 were women and 401
were men.
847 women accessed the technology to optimise their production processes, representing 42%
of the total number of users.

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A coffee roasting machine was installed for the Central Local de Cooperativas Agropecuarias Caranavi
CELCCAR, which will benefit 124 affiliated families from 7 of the affiliated coffee cooperatives. The
machine is of national manufacture, has a capacity of 10 kg per batch of roasted coffee and works with
220V electric power.

"This is the drum that goes on the inside, and this is the aspirator, which sucks up all the coffee
cuticles. Although its capacity is 10 kilos, we only put in 9 kilos because we know that coffee grows in
volume when it is roasted", explains Carola Quispe, a CELCCAR technician.

I roast at 170, 180°C, if the temperature reaches 220°C, the

machine automatically shuts down and starts sounding the alarm".
The roaster has a cooling system in a time - no more than 5
minutes - reducing the time previously used in a similar non-
automated process.

Carola Quispe, CELCCAR technician.

For his part, Sinforoso Condorcett, until last February president of CELCCAR, highlighted the inter-
institutional articulation process for the acquisition of the toaster. It is important to mention that
CELCCAR assumed 40% of the total cost of the equipment.

The technology reduces the process time by 75%, going from roasting 10 kg to 40 kg per hour, allowing
CELCCAR to offer greater volumes in less time, thus improving the supply of products and services to
the local market of Caranavi and the national market, having buyers of roasted and ground coffee in
the main cities of the country. The economic incentive provided by the project helps organisations such
as CELCCAR to optimise their production processes, in this specific case coffee roasting. We are
promoting the implementation of technology that works with modern energy sources to improve their
productivity and the quality of the final product.

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Lessons learnt
 The financial incentive, based on the number of users per association, promotes the participation of
organisations that demonstrate better organisational and management skills. This way of working
allows the users to become more active, and we act as a means to achieve their objectives.
 However, it is in many cases a constraint for small organisations, and it is necessary to create a
financial compensation mechanism for one-person companies, improving equality of opportunity
according to the size of the organisations.
 The process of technology implementation had a wide participation, including producers in the
selection and purchase processes of technologies is a good practice, through this action greater
legitimacy is given and co-responsibility and appropriation is generated.
 The stratification of the work areas by value chain makes it possible to identify potential
organisations and carry out a more comprehensive market analysis (supply vs. technological
demand).
 This process is not easy, since not all companies in the market specialise in the manufacture of
machinery by value chain. It is important to analyse the means that allow the meeting between
suppliers and demanders of national technology.
 Support was provided for the development and adaptation of technology for certain production
chains, demonstrating the need for economic incentives for the development of national industry.
 The participation of women-led organisations is still minimal, and it is necessary to generate
mechanisms so that more women can access the economic incentive.
 Women's participation varies according to the context, size and type of economic organisation, it is
necessary to generate mechanisms to increase their participation in relation to men.
 The users of the project acquired new capacities for the management of their enterprises, but due to
the characteristics and social dynamics of each organisation, it is necessary to generate a
permanent monitoring or communication system so that they can continue to improve
continuously.
 The work with local partners is decisive; this type of alliance must be generated and strengthened,
which in addition to providing technical support in the field, can provide financial support for the
acquisition of technology for the benefit of the organisations with which they work.

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Next steps
In this new phase, 2021 - 2022, we want to expand our work to:

945 new families linked to agricultural organisations have access to modern energy
technologies, prioritising the participation of women, through a specific incentive for them,
with a higher economic amount, in coordination with EnDev Bolivia's Women's Energy
Fund (FEM).

Develop at least 1 innovative climate-friendly technology for productive use co-designed

and/or adapted with national technology providers and with the participation of users from
the organisations, mainly women.

Increase productivity by at least 20% due to access to modern energy technologies.

Increase in the value of marketed products (compared to the situation without the project)
due to access to modern energy technologies.

Develop 1 toolkit for face-to-face and virtual training in e-modules:

- Production cost management
- Rural enterprise management
- Technology use, maintenance and governance

At least 4 women-led agricultural organisations have business plans submitted to financial

institutions or initiatives.

50 women from agricultural organisations trained in at least 1 of the 3 modules.

For a world that works better for everyone

Shirley Pazos
Head of fundraising
[email protected]

Carlos Reza
Energy theme leader
[email protected]

Calle Presbítero Medina 2922, Sopocachi

La Paz, Bolivia
http://practicalaction.org.bo/

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