Agros Blog

Continuing to introduce and highlight the tremendous staff that makes up Agros in the field, the following is a brief bio and introduction written by Mario Gaitan, the Director of Agros Nicaragua. We are fortunate to have so gifted and humble a man in the Agros family.

My name is Mario Gaitán López. I am an agronomic engineer and currently work for Agros International in Nicaragua as the Executive Director. I was born and raised in a poor rural family. I enjoy cultivating the land, with the goal of investigating a diverse range of crops that can be implemented by small producers. One of my projects is considering the diversity and balance of farmers’ incomes through a good combination of crops. My passion is to see poor rural farmers transform their lives as they are able to improve their systems of production and, above all, their relationship with the environment. The measure in which we share knowledge, experience, and methods of production is the measure in which we grow as a society.

I have worked fifteen years in the arena of rural development in different regions of the country. Since I was young I have dedicated time to rural investigation; my first work focused in rural experimentation. I believe this awoke my interest and commitment to work with rural families – I believe they are capable of innovating their production systems without affecting their ecosystems.

I got further into the field of rural development because of my interest in the concept of integrated systems where internal and external variables convene, from social to environmental to economic. Understanding this context is what makes my work enjoyable, above all when it deals with poor rural families dedicated to subsistence agriculture. Understanding historical context and economic rationality allows us to collaboratively formulate alternatives of development that are aligned with their potential. It is important to be clear that the concept of rural development, before being a technical instrument, should be an instrument of social transformation.

I am motivated to work in rural regions because it is there that the levels of poverty are more pronounced. According to the latest report from the Nicaraguan government, 65% of the rural population is below the poverty line, where the basic services of health, education, housing and others are unsatisfied. With Agros I have the opportunity to work so that many families in my country can escape poverty. I am able to accompany them and facilitate the acquisition of land, production resources, technical capacity and human development.

I have had the opportunity to see families who were living with endless obstacles and signs of severe malnutrition move in to a dignified house with sufficient food, the means to pay their debts - with dignity and new self-esteem. I have witnessed their tears when we talk in their homes of their life histories and their gratefulness to God. This is my motivation: to be an instrument of God to serve many families. I am motivated to teach knowledge that permits them to develop the capacity and ability to self-manage and to improve their food security and their relationship with their environment. It has been a blessing to share this knowledge because “happy is he who teaches what he knows.”

Finally, what feeds my eagerness to work for Agros day to day is to see the joy and enthusiasm on the faces of farmers when they have their own land where they can establish a home, cultivated hope and gather the harvest with love. To share in this work with the families of the Agros villages evokes memories of my childhood when, together with my siblings and my parents, we would sit around the table and give thanks to God for the blessing of the first harvest. For me this moment of joy is priceless.

To plant a seed, watch it grow, and see it harvested is a miracle of God.

-Mario Gaitán López

The following photos were taken of Mario just last week (Feb 1-4, 2007). The photo on the left shows Mario gesturing over a section of land that may soon become a new Agros village… the other photo shows Mario (left), one of the leaders of San Marcos (center), and Agros agricultural economist Ceasar Arevalo (right).