Guayas: A Development Model that Grows From the Land and Looks to the Future
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Under Prefect Carlos Encalada Villacís, Ecuador’s most productive province has brought together agribusiness, water security, infrastructure, social welfare and innovation in a comprehensive strategy for sustainable growth.
In Guayas, development doesn’t start in the cities. It takes shape much earlier: on a farm that needs water to produce, on a rural road that must connect a harvest to a collection center, along a river whose behavior can determine a community’s fate, and with families who need services to reach them.
That comprehensive reading of the territory has become the hallmark of Carlos Encalada Villacís, who took office as prefect of Guayas in May 2026. An agricultural engineer trained at EARTH University in Costa Rica, he spent more than two decades in private agribusiness, with experience in organic bananas, cacao, short-cycle crops and cattle, and presided over the Association of Cattle Ranchers of the Litoral from 2022 to 2024. As Encalada puts it:
“Don’t see me only as a prefect; see me also as a producer and a cattle rancher who knows firsthand the hard work of the countryside and who seeks to structurally transform Ecuadorian agriculture. Our absolute priority is to be out in the territory, alongside the people who produce.”
FROM DATA INTELLIGENCE TO STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
The province’s comprehensive Agricultural Census identified 136,268 production units and 121,221 producers, and revealed structural gaps: nearly 80% of farms are smaller than five hectares, while 89.29% lack basic post-harvest infrastructure such as warehouses, packing facilities or collection centers.
In its first months, the administration announced more than $5 million for certified seed, inputs, technical assistance, cattle genetics and strengthening production. A proposed drone-based crop application program is designed to give small producers access to tools that normally require individual investments that are hard to take on, so that innovation is not a privilege of the large supply chains.
INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT: PRODUCE, MITIGATE AND PROTECT
In Guayas, talking about production necessarily means talking about water. The rivers, estuaries and canals that sustain farming and ranching can also become a source of vulnerability during heavy rains.
The Guayas en Acción plan made prevention against the possible effects of El Niño one of its first priorities. The provincial government identified 517 prevention works and deployed machinery and equipment to 34 work sites across 18 cantons, from road maintenance and dredging riverbeds to canal rehabilitation and rebuilding embankments. The stated goal is to strengthen preparedness before an emergency forces a reaction.
In June 2026, the provincial government announced a credit line of up to $115 million with the Development Bank of Ecuador, with an initial $60 million preapproval for major hydraulic works in critical areas such as Naranjal and Pedro Carbo: flood-control, irrigation and watershed management projects. In September, the full Provincial Council approved $66 million for these two water projects.
The challenge goes beyond a single province. Seven provincial governments take part in the Commonwealth for the Rescue of the Guayas River, a joint management body for the basin, which is developing a 20-year Master Plan backed by CAF–Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, aimed at establishing environmental baselines, monitoring water quality and attracting green and international investment funds.
CONNECTING PRODUCTION TO MARKETS
A harvest’s journey doesn’t end when it leaves the farm. Guayas has $100 million in World Bank financing to rehabilitate rural roads and build or improve bridges. The project benefits more than 24,000 daily users and seeks to reduce travel times and strengthen infrastructure against adverse weather events.
Encalada’s model pairs infrastructure with human capital. Through the Mobile Preventive Care Brigades, the provincial government brings free medical coverage, medicine, veterinary services, fumigation and preventive primary care directly to the most remote parishes and communities.
A TERRITORY LEARNING TO ANTICIPATE
Prevention also means knowing what could happen before it happens. Through an alliance with the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil and the University of Illinois, the province is developing an Early Warning System that integrates meteorological and hydrological information to produce forecasts up to 72 hours in advance for specific points in the territory, starting with the most vulnerable.
Satellite imagery helps identify flood-prone areas, monitor bodies of water and complement information gathered on the ground. The Early Warning System represents a change in approach: not waiting for the river to rise before acting, but using the information available to make decisions before risk becomes an emergency.
A FOOTPRINT, A LEGACY
Guayas faces a challenge that is economic, territorial and climatic at once. The Encalada administration seeks to address it as a whole rather than through isolated projects.
The challenge now is to turn that approach into lasting policy that transcends administrative cycles and keeps Guayas among Ecuador’s main production engines. Because in this province, growth is not understood only from its cities. It is also built from the land, by listening to its people and delivering for them.
