Agros Blog

From my vantage point at 2400 feet, the cloud-shrouded Cordillera Dariense (Nicaragua’s main mountain range) loom verdant, inviting me to dream of times long past when these hills flourished without tracer bullets and land mines wreaking havoc on the hard-working Nicaraguense “cortadores” (coffee plantation harvesters) who’ve lived, worked and died here.

I dream all the more so today — with them — because I’m now looking at these storied hills through their eyes. Eyes of former cortadores-now-turned land-owners!

I’m here at our newest Agros’ village, San José, which in a short 9 months is a veritable paradise in the making. I pause in sheer wonder beneath the hand-hewn trusses of their newest addition, a “beneficio” or coffee processing station, made of 125 lb cut-stone blocks, cement & steel laminate roofing, all hauled up on willing backs from the road far below. The “beneficio” is complete with a large capacity depulper (used to take off the skin of the coffee) and large concrete wash basins in which the depulped-yet-fleshy beans soak for a day. From here the coffee beans “escape” the basins via 4″ pvc outlets into the rinsing trough, where they are paddled to knock off any remainder of the flesh before being put onto sorting/drying frames. The tiny beans are then laid out to sun-dry for a month.

Beaming with pride, bustling to show us their first fruits from this their first harvest from their own land, both Petronilio & Armando, San Jose’s President & Vice President, flashed their ear-to-ear grins, nodding their heads in agreement as we praised their accomplishment!

But that was only the beginning for me on this first visit to San Jose, our most remote community to date in Nicaragua. Inviting me and two potential Agros donors to clamber across flourishing fields of corn, viewing vistas of acre upon acres of beans, and then descending solo down steep & slippery slopes to see Armando’s charge: a first-ever-for-them dedicated plot (1.25mz or 2 acres) of tomatoes projected to yield over $9000 in only 4 months time. The proceeds will be divided among all 22 families.

This, coupled with their recent coffee harvest and the more than 100,000 lbs of corn they’ve harvested, bodes well for an altogether unprecedented first year’s income that will average close to $1500/family. This is more than 5 times their previous best annual incomes.

What does it take to turn disappointments into dreams? Disasters into “diamonds”?

It takes trust… humility… gratitude. It takes patience, and an ability to work hard. It also takes partnership. Transformation is a community process, where the strong help the weak and the weak become strong to help those who are next.

The next day we met the families of El Naranjo — families who are waiting for Agros to raise the needed funds to purchase the land and help them move forward. Many of the families forsook a days wages to meet with us for an update on when they might be able to be roll up their sleeves to begin to work their own land, joining the ranks of the like in San Jose.

We’re at 80% of the funding needed, missing now only $150,000 for the balance of the land. Let us know if you’d like to help us help them. They’re ready, eager, willing and waiting.