Agros Blog

The following was written by Rebecca Craig, an Agros International Student Worker in the Communications Department:

Last month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a new small farmer initiative that is directly related to the mission of Agros. Speaking at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food, Bill Gates said, “I’ve become convinced that supporting their efforts to grow more food and get it to market is one of the best possible ways to invest money if you want to help the world’s poorest people become self-sufficient.”

This idea is at the heart of Agros, which has been partnering with rural poor families in Central America and Chiapas, Mexico to attain self-sufficiency through agriculture for nearly thirty years. But one of the factors that sets Agros apart from other organizations is that we view the inability to access land ownership as a major contributor to rural poverty. Without land of their own, the rural poor must either rent small plots of land that only allow for small yields and forces them to give a portion of their yield back to the owners, or work on large farms for little pay and with no job stability. Both of these options take a huge portion of food and potential profits away from those most in need.

That’s why Agros works with a group of families to identify and purchase agricultural land, with the understanding that these families will work to pay off the loans and eventually own that land. These families begin growing their crops, initiating a repayment of those loans at a low interest rate over a period of about ten years. Their payments enable Agros to recycle these funds into future land purchases, effectively passing on the blessing to other communities in need.

Of course, land alone is not the answer. Rather, we form a partnership that is founded on our holistic and participatory development model which entails a long-term commitment to join with each of the communities. Agros comes alongside the families we work with and facilitates this process, ensuring that families access necessities like housing, clean water, and education, in addition to small business loans and training for land use and stewardship.

This is not charity; it’s an investment in the capacity of people and in agriculture.  First the families can begin to grow crops to feed themselves and their families, making day to day survival less of a struggle. Once they’ve reached a steady food supply, then they can begin trying new crops and securing contracts to sell them for additional income, with assistance from Agros agronomists.

Mateo and his wife are a great example of just how necessary land ownership can be to poverty elimination. Over twenty years ago, Mateo and his family fled from the civil war in Guatemala to the safety of Mexico. There they worked on different ranches, dependent on the whims of landowners for survival.  Twice the family tried to put down roots and grow coffee and plantains, only to be kicked off the land. Coffee in particular is a crop that grows well in some climates in Central America, and when produced at the right quality can be quite profitable. But it is also a crop that takes three years to fully mature, and thus requires being on the same land to reap the benefits of years of hard work. Mateo and his family never had that opportunity before partnering with Agros. Now the family lives in the community of Nueva Ilusión and is working towards owning their own land. Looking forward, Mateo shared, “I’m happy because now we have the security of having land to plant—no more patrones kicking us off without notice.”

We have witnessed the amazing potential that agriculture holds for our community members like Mateo, and have enthusiastically watched them journey out of poverty and into self-sufficiency in just one generation. Our families’ hard work – through cultivation of crops such as coffee and snow peas for world market consumption – has given them the opportunity not only to own their own land but also to earn a living, support their families, and dream of a brighter future. We hope that Gates’ speech draws greater attention to the importance of what small farmers are doing in Agros villages throughout Central America and Mexico.  For more information on how Agros is working to empower families and small farmers in Central America and Mexico, click here.