Feeding the world one family at a time

Yesterday I went and viewed an agriculture project that ESNA is working on in Castana, El Salvador. The project is small in acreage , 5 acres max, but measured in the impact it has had on the four families it is huge. The project began almost two years ago when ESNA picked 10 families from the community to participate in an intensive two month training then a three year commitment on the farm. Only four of the initial ten families stayed through the training. The families that left thought that it was too much theory and not enough practice. In their rush to get their hands dirty they missed out on three years of rent free land. Many of the families that dropped out during the training tried to get back into the program after the remaining families started to grow, harvest and sell their crops but one strike and they were out. This is too big of an opportunity to squander it on people who are not wholly committed to the project.

Family Garden

The families that stayed received everything that they needed, short of a guarantee from nature that she would comply with their crop cycles, to have a thriving farm. First the families were taught general farm skills such as soil maintenance, crop rotating, plant families, wind breaks, drip systems, etc. Most of these families, although farmers all of their lives, have never grown anything except beans and corn. After the training each family drew straws for their plot of land. Once they had their land ESNA supplied the drip systems, seeds, fertilizer and technical support for the families.

Today the project is in its second year and is beginning the transition to being self-sustainable. The farmers have learned to grow such finicky crops such as tomatoes and bell peppers which bring in enough money from the market to sustain their families. Each farmer was excited to tell Guillermo what they grew in the past season and how it fared at the market. Many of the farmers lit up when they started to talk about their plans for the coming season and what they were hoping to plan.

One family in particular stuck out of the group to me. This family was doing something that really inspired and makes me want to help other families do the same thing. When this family began this project their and that of their children consisted of beans, corn, the occasional protein and the random vegetable from the market. Not they have a thriving garden for personal consumption alongside the land for commercial cultivation. In their garden they are growing okra, cabbage, eggplant, radishes, tomatoes, squash and bell peppers. The mother talked about wanting to grow carrots, cucumber, broccoli, chili peppers and different types of squash.

It was really inspiring to me to see a family get educated then be given a chance to use that education and in the end strive to learn and try more and more. You can see a thirst in them for something better, something different. A few years ago this family was barely self subsisting on a diet of bean and corn with six children. Now not only are selling their crops at the market but they are growing enough that they barely have to buy fruits or vegetables anymore. This is what I like to see, this is what I tried to do by myself at home but couldn't find enough time to commit to my plants. I want to be able to help others be able to feed themselves and their families healthy balanced diets. By empowering parents to feed their children we give them the ability to empower their children to search for and obtain whatever it is that they might want to do in their young lives.

People here constantly ask me why I want to work in agriculture. Here, agriculture is the poor man's work. Only people who can't find anything else to do work in agriculture. For me though, agriculture is about empowering people to feed themselves and giving them self confidence when they see what they can do and how well they can provide. It's also about teaching people that their is a wealth of knowledge that they can tap into if they work together and that through team work much more is possible.