Agros Blog

The following is a translation of an article written by Agros Guatemala Board Member Humberto Preti and published in the Guatemalan newspaper ‘Prensa Libre’:

“Last week the Agros Guatemala directors went to visit the communities that Agros supports in Barillas, Huehuetenango. After traveling through the beautiful peaks of Los Cuchumantes, we arrived (over torturous, difficult roads) at our destination and were surprised to see the inhabitants of these communities truly involved and working with a spirit of betterment. The men and women there are developing an aptitude for entrepreneurship.

It’s clear just how important the organization’s support has been for them. They are working hard by themselves, taking initiative and participating in projects that go above and beyond the aid that they have been given. Pascual particularly impressed us. In spite of his lack of education, he was able to build a drier for his coffee, which he made entirely by himself by copying the drawings that he saw in a manual. There are other community members developing their own businesses and implementing projects as well, some on their own and others in a communal fashion. The communal projects include a tilapia tank for raising fish, important buildings for the community such as schools, and sewing rooms to keep the machines in (some of which were acquired through loans).

Agros has been providing women with loans in the form of a community-run bank, which they have already taken to the next level by receiving training to be able to process their own loans. It’s admirable to see that no one has been defaulting on the loans ‘ve received and that some women are already moving on to their third loan.

It was our turn during the visit to one of the communities to give the land titles to everyone there who had repaid their land loans (in the Agros Guatemala village “El Edén”). Since the Agros model isn’t about giving everything away for free, it generates hard work and commitment among the villagers. This desire to improve is visible in the Canjobal communities as much as it is in the Ixil triangle - the importance that they are giving to their children’s education, their desire to get trained in different skills. These things have been made possible with the help of Guatemalan organizations such as INTECAP (a training program developed by the Industry Council of Guatemala) and ANACAFE (Guatemalan Association of Coffee Growers), as well as other organizations like Agros International, Generalitat Valenciana (Spanish Municipal Organization), USAID (US Agency for International Development) and other international organizations that have dedicated themselves to helping the poor by investing in productive projects.

In some communities where there are water resources, the families are already thinking of building their own hydroelectric system. Although there are already electricity networks in nearby, the villagers are not able to pay the excessive charges due to our dependence on hydrocarbons.

We then went to see La Providencia, the new farm that benefits one hundred families, and saw how there exists in each family member a desire to begin work on various projects and the construction of their homes. Nobody was thinking about the past, or about vengeance; their minds were on the future and in the wellbeing of their families in spite of having been among the communities most affected by the useless armed conflict that had plunged them into misery for many years. They are making gigantic steps. The families are already receiving information about birth control and are accepting it with interest.

The satisfaction of seeing these groups that are moving ahead, with clear visions, was my Christmas gift.

This following is an article written by Alfred Kaltschmitt and published yesterday in Prensa Libre, an independent newspaper in Guatemala.

Alfred Kaltschmitt was one of the founding members of Fundación Agros Guatemala, serving as the first Chair of the Board of Directors. The spanish version of this article can be found by clicking here.

Between the Clouds of the Ixil

We left early on a Friday; we took the car because of copious rain and mist that surrounded the capital city since the night before. Since it was impossible to fly to the Ixil, plan B was to take a four-wheel drive in case we could not fly to the airstrip in Ajt Tumbal, in Nebaj.

We started driving and took the highway headed west going to Quiché, through Chichicastenango, then Sacapulas, crossing the bridge over Río Negro, and then towards the top of the cordillera of Los Chutumatanes, through Cunén.  Almost daily, in the afternoon, the clouds make a date to dance upon the backs of these impressive and enormous thousand-year-old mountains.

The paved highway has transformed the whole region of the Ixil, an area that has experienced significant isolation due to distance and difficult access. The inhabitants of the Ixil region, which is comprised of the Nebaj, Cotzal and Chajul municipalities, are now connected to the exterior world.

I was overwhelmed by many memories — memories stretching back almost a quarter of a century. I thought back to the time when we first started Agros – an NGO whose vision was, is, and will continue to be, to help create new ways of development for the indigenous communities that are in most need. In those days, I had to travel by a slim dirt road filled with holes and ponds. This adventure could last up to 14 hours, depending on the conditions of the road. Driving could be interrupted by a landslide or other obstacles. The whole region of Ixil was isolated, and the war kept it even more depressed.

This time, however, in less than four hours we arrived to the top of the beautiful valley that surrounds Nebaj. I remembered the first time that my beloved friend Mario Morales and I stopped to contemplate the scenic beauty of the Ixil. That was almost 25 years ago, when we were young and believed that it is not by sword or armies that poverty is conquered, but through love and solidarity for your neighbor, and the message found in the example of the greatest politician - Jesus Christ.

How can I describe in a few words the intensity of what my fellow Agros Guatemala Board members and I lived these past three days? I still feel a sense of pride over seeing the first class of carpenters graduate from the new Agros Training Center in Nebaj. I can already envision the future for the Training Center of Nebaj… of how advanced it will be in the construction of training workspaces, computer laboratories, staff and student housing, and in teaching intensive agriculture skills! This center will also provide training in agriculture, eco-tourism, and general contractor skills.

We visited seven of the 22 villages that Agros has developed in Guatemala over the past years: La Esperanza, Belén, Caxijay, Xeucalvitz, Trapichitos, Batzchacolá, and Sumalito. We have also built dirt roads leading to three of these village -  an enormous achievement given their location, as there are steep drop-offs and deep valleys everywhere in this area.

Climbing and descending over four thousand feet of elevation, and crossing up to three different micro-climates, we finally got to visit the projects and talk to the grateful Agros villagers. Their lives and their children’s lives have been transformed by having access to the simple dignity of a home, potable water, schools, health, and professional training. We also attended a land title ceremony in the village of Belén. I can still see the face of Pedro Raymundo, bursting with happiness as he received his land property title.

As we were leaving a fellow Board member asked, “please pass me a tissue.” Tears had filled his eyes.

Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), recently published an article on the essential elements needed to fight poverty in a lasting, sustainable way. His findings both affirm and dovetail with our own development model here at Agros, where we have also found that alleviating rural poverty requires an integrated, holistic, and sustainable approach.

Here are a few quotes from his article, and a link to the entire piece:

“Investments in agriculture can transform economies and pay high dividends in terms of quality of life and dignity for poor rural people.

Many of those left behind are rural people - the small farmers, landless workers, herders, fisherfolk and artisans who depend on agriculture and related activities to survive. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s extremely poor people live in the rural areas of developing countries - over 800 million women, children and men. One-quarter have no secure access to land. In many areas, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities make up a disproportionate number of the rural poor, and in all areas women are the most vulnerable and marginalised.

Agricultural investments drive economic growth
Investments in agriculture can transform economies and pay high dividends in terms of quality of life and dignity for poor rural people. They can drive broader economic growth, setting the stage for long-term sustainable development. Indeed, investments in agriculture are more effective in raising people out of poverty than investments in any other sector.

…these solutions must be rooted in the aspirations and priorities of poor people themselves… poor rural people tell us that secure access to land, water and other natural resources is one of their highest priorities. In fact, studies show that inequitable distribution and lack of access to land are often the driving forces behind poverty and hunger, as well as the roots of armed conflict and civil war.”

Click here to read more of President Bage’s excellent article.

Writing from Nicaragua and just read the article published in yesterday’s (March 6) Seattle PI. Many thanks to PI reporter Tom Paulson - he truly did an exceptional job working to understand what Agros is doing not only in Nicaragua, but all throughout Central America.  Click here for a direct link, or read below:

Seattle group helping the poor buy land in Nicaragua
280-acre ‘El Eden’ supports 29 families

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER

EDITOR’S NOTE: For decades, Seattle and the Northwest have had connections with Nicaragua in health care, economic development and political activism. During the civil war in the 1980s, many in Seattle and the Northwest became involved in the Sandinista-Contra struggle.

Some assistance projects and relationships created by those turbulent times have persisted. Meanwhile, newer bridges between the Northwest and Nicaragua are being built.

The Seattle P-I recently visited a handful of projects that represent the Northwest’s continuing connection to the poorest nation in Central America.

NEAR MATAGALPA, Nicaragua — The inequitable ownership of land has been at the root of many of Nicaragua’s conflicts. Today, a little-known organization started by a Seattle attorney and community activist is working to reduce this inequity by helping the poorest of the poor buy land in these lush green hills.

“We are planting maracuya (passion fruit) as part of our plan to diversify crops,” said farmer Leandro Hernandez, speaking with obvious pride while walking across a few acres of land to which he and his campesino family one day hope to hold title.

The land, for now, is owned by a Seattle non-profit organization called Agros International. Created in 1982 by Chi-Dooh “Skip” Li, a Seattle attorney, Agros bought this land for $170,000 and is selling it back to poor families who agree to make it productive.
Across the field, higher up on a hillside, Hernandez pointed to rows of tomato and jalapeno plants, as well as to the water tank they had built for irrigation. Elsewhere in this new 280-acre community, dubbed El Eden, that he and 29 other poor families recently have settled are crops of corn, avocado, beans, plantains, watermelon and coffee, some of which is headed for Camano Island Coffee Roasters.

“We will wait until the rains come, in May, to plant some of them,” Hernandez said, explaining that the idea is to always have some produce to sell in the market, no matter what the season.

This is the first piece of land he — or anyone in his family — has ever owned and he is determined to make it a success.

“Before this, I had to rent a place for my family to live and work at a factory (farm) where I was paid 50 cordobas (less than $3) a day,” he said.

With this land from Agros, he said, he makes only a little bit more money every day selling his produce. But he doesn’t have to pay rent or buy food, so he is able to save money.

“I can send my children to school now,” Hernandez said.

He and the other families in El Eden farm and live off the land as a sort of loan from Agros. Each family is required to pay Agros an average of $300 every year toward the purchase of the land. In less than a decade, if all goes well, the land will be theirs.

“We want to show them that they can take care of themselves and make progress on their own initiative, rather than to expect charity,” said Kira Lopez, a financial manager at the Agros office in Managua.

“We have been working with this community for about 16 months,” said Mario Gaitan, an agronomist and executive director of the Agros programs in Nicaragua. Gaitan and his colleagues help the farmers develop a master agricultural plan aimed at making the best use of the soil, water resources and local market demand.

“Before the Sandinistas, all the land in Nicaragua was owned by the big producers,” Gaitan said.

After the revolution toppled the dictator Anastasio Somoza (who alone owned a huge chunk of the country), Gaitan said, the Sandinistas seized much of the land to redistribute it among the people. They formed farming collectives, but didn’t give individuals ownership of land. There wasn’t much done with legal title transfer. Many of the poor who received the land weren’t trained sufficiently to take over the large farms.
The Sandinista plan largely imploded, leading to decay in the agricultural sector and increasing poverty. When conservatives regained power in 1990, their solution was to return the land to big landowners — which threw even more peasants deeper into poverty.

“Land reform was failing,” Li said.

When a friend and classmate from the University of Washington law school was killed in an El Salvador hotel while volunteering to work on land reform there, Li felt prompted to take up the cause.

“I didn’t want to get involved in the politics, but I wanted to do something,” said Li, who occasionally writes as a community columnist for the Seattle P-I editorial page.

After a visiting minister from Argentina spoke at his church suggesting individuals could buy land directly and give it to the poor, he started Agros to do that. Though its impetus was faith-based, Agros has no religious litmus test for deciding which families to help.

“We started in Guatemala and moved into Nicaragua in the mid-1990s,” Li said.

The organization has grown very quietly, he said, into a sizable operation that is expected to reach $4 million in income by June with 30 sponsored communities throughout Latin America.

Some of the coffee beans grown by Hernandez and his neighbors in this mountain village are already showing up in Seattle cups.

“I really like what Agros is doing,” said Jeff Ericson, owner of Camano Island Coffee Roasters. The company, which sells organic, shade-grown, freely traded beans, buys them from Agros-sponsored farmers in Nicaragua.

“This is not your typical charity at the trough,” Ericson said. “This is about creating sustainable businesses and communities.”

After examining Hernandez’ jalapeno crop and some coffee plants that had recently been whacked by a tornado, Gaitan wandered back down into the center of the village. Workers were struggling to irrigate a field of young plantains effectively as the water flowed too fast here, backed up there or headed in the wrong direction.

Gaitan grabbed a hoe, began digging and deftly demonstrated how a different configuration of the ditch path allowed for better, more efficient flow. He handed back the hoe and the men went to work.

“We can help here and there,” Gaitan said. “But it will be up to them for it to succeed.”

P-I reporter Tom Paulson can be reached at 206-448-8318 or tompaulson@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Throughout the world it is the poor who are the most vulnerable, and who suffer the most in the wake of natural disaster, famine, and war. There is a legacy of loss, suffering, and grief that continues to this day in the hearts of so many in Central America… people who lost children, parents, brothers and sisters in the civil wars that raged throughout the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Many of these families and individuals now live in Agros villages, where they are given new opportunity and hope to rebuild the connections that were destroyed not that many years ago.

We are committed to helping villagers create a new legacy… of hope. And in the aftermath of what these extraordinary people have gone through, hope - real hope - is not easy or simple or cheap. Hope requires courage, and in Guatemala - the people themselves are leading the way in a tough, difficult path towards national closure. The following recent news article focuses on the people of the Ixil, a region in Guatemala that is central to several Agros villages.

Forensic experts look for remains of the 200,000 killed in 36-year civil war.
By N.C. Aizenman
The Washington Post

November 8, 2006
NEBAJ, Guatemala

Spurred by a surge of requests from victims’ families this year, dozens of forensic anthropologists have been fanning out across the countryside to search for remains of the 200,000 people — most of them Mayan Indian civilians — who were killed or abducted during the 36-year conflict.

Many were massacred by military forces and dumped into mass graves. Others were buried hurriedly in unmarked locations by relatives anxious to avoid rampaging troops.

About 40,000 victims disappeared after being seized by government operatives.

Nearly every day brings another grisly discovery: skulls of toddlers with gunshots to the head; corpses of young men whose necks are still looped with the garrotes used to strangle them.

Nearly every week brings another funeral crowded with weeping relatives.

In a cavernous, damp warehouse in the capital, Guatemala City, investigators wearing protective masks and surgical gloves comb through piles of mildewed documents from a recently discovered secret police
archive, hunting for clues to the fate of the disappeared.

The effort is not the first investigation of wartime atrocities since peace accords ended the conflict in 1996. But its scope and pace are unusual in a country where those responsible have enjoyed near impunity.

Read the rest of this entry »