Switzerland: After forty years of bilateral cooperation, Switzerland closed its cooperation office in Ecuador at the end of June 2010. This closure is based on a decision by the SDC to concentrate its finances on a smaller number of priority countries in order to achieve a greater impact. Ecuador is now a country with a medium income level.

Switezrland’s investments focused mainly on agricultural development in Ecuador. In the area in which the SDC was active, agricultural income has risen by 21 to 50% in the past two decades. In the Nabón canton of the Province of Azuay it has risen by over 100% in the past decade. Better training offers, new infrastructure (e.g. irrigation systems), access to financial services and improved marketing of agricultural produce made this increase in income possible and helped to slow down immigration to the cities. With an additional 15,000 hectares of irrigated land, 16,000 farming families have increased their agricultural yield by about 70%.

Source: http://www.sdc.admin.ch/en/Home/News/Close_up?itemID=193842