From Seed to Market - The New Face of San Jose por Aquil
Guatemalan farmer, Ines Ehuy Simon, speaks about the difference that Oxfam partner SEPAGRO has made in her community.
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| SEPAGRO is helping Ines by linking her with local markets to sell her Amaranto seeds. By: Nageeb Sumar |
Ines has spent all 47 years of her life in San Jose por Aquil, Guatemala, and the last 23 years committed to improving children’s health and literacy. In 1980, Ines Ehuy Simon and several other Mayan women, mostly widows, opened a children's center, called "Mariposas" to address high rates of child malnutrition and illiteracy in their community. For 20 years, the center provided a safe-haven for orphaned children and the needy. When funds began to dwindle and the children's center faced the possibility of shutting its doors, Ines and the other women desperately sought help in financing their program.
In 2001, "Mariposas" met representatives of SEPAGRO, whose mission is to provide market access for small producers. During the meeting, Ines explained how seeds from the Amaranto plant are used as a protein supplement to help alleviate malnutrition for children. The women had learned of Amaranto’s medicinal value from their ancient Catchiquel Mayan ancestors, who mixed it in certain foods and drinks, and wanted to petition SEPAGRO for their aid in marketing the product.
SEPAGRO decided to market the seeds on the local market and guaranteed the women of Mariposas a fair price for their labor.
Rural Poverty in Guatemala
The scope of rural poverty in Guatemala is appalling. An estimated 80 percent of Guatemalans live below the poverty line, most in rural areas. Hundreds of small, indigenous communities throughout the country, thousands of people live without basic social services—potable water, electricity, sanitation, and health care. Most of these communities are comprised of farming families, who grow what little they can to cover their most basic needs.
Providing Communities with Market Access
Oxfam's partners in Guatemala are offering these poor farming communities opportunities such as credit, technical assistance, and access to local, national, and international markets to sell their produce.
SEPAGRO is helping Ines by linking her with local markets to sell her Amaranto seeds. Today, Ines and the other women of "Mariposas" cultivate Amaranto, and market a large portion of their product through SEPAGRO to help sustain the children's center.
"SEPAGRO has helped motivate us to make a difference," Ines explains. "They value our work, they see us as legitimate partners, and they are providing us with the technical assistance we need."
SEPAGRO is linking producers all over Central America with local, national, and international markets. They market a variety of crops, including coffee to Fair Trade markets in Japan, Europe and the United States. They also market products such as ecological wood and dehydrated fruits.
SEPAGRO's overarching mission is to empower impoverished farming communities to take advantage of their potential. In the coffee market, for example, producers are receiving less and less of the final price paid for their product. Only seven percent of a cup of coffee sold in developed countries is paying for the coffee itself, the rest is spent to cover costs such as publicity and marketing. SEPAGRO is creating opportunities for farmers to provide value-added by taking over the processing, transporting and marketing of their own products.
The results have been phenomenal. In San Jose por Aquil, extra income from the sale of Amaranto has enabled the children's center to purchase necessities such as school desks for the children. Women are able to purchase more seeds to cultivate a variety of crops, and have been able to increase their Amaranto yield.
Ines has earned enough money through SEPAGRO to support her children, donate some extra money to the children’s center, and consider taking a business class at a university. SEPAGRO's help has quite literally changed her life, and the life of the community she helped to build.