Poverty reduction should be a primary goal of U.S. foreign assistance. To identify priorities and long-term goals, we consult with local communities, in-country organizations, and people living in poverty themselves.
Matagalpa Province, Nicaragua — On a mountainside in the Nicaraguan highlands, farmer Pedro Granada is counting on worms to help his young children make it through school and on to university. That’s an impressive goal for a man who just completed first grade himself a few years ago, at the age of 30.
Pedro grew up in the 1980s, when Nicaragua was embroiled in a bloody civil war. The war disrupted life for everyone, including children. He never even got the opportunity to begin primary school. Not surprisingly, this has made his life a struggle. But he is determined that things will be different for his children.
Pedro and his wife, Concepción, moved with their three children to this community of Aguas Amarillas a year ago. They’ve built a two-room house and small finca (farm) on land provided by Acción Médica Cristiana (A.M.C.). This Nicaraguan Christian nongovernmental organization has received U.S. foreign assistance through its partnerships with Church World Service and Foods Resource Bank. But this funding stream varies from year to year; currently A.M.C. receives no U.S. government assistance.
A.M.C. has been working in the Matagalpa region of central Nicaragua for many years and understands the needs in the area well. They began by offering health care to families who live far from any medical facility. But when they realized that rural families lacked access to land to grow their crops—and needed to learn the best ways to farm—they expanded their focus.
The Granadas’ finca is part of A.M.C.’s land bank project, which works with rural families to purchase plots of land. The family is buying their land directly from A.M.C., who are also teaching the Granadas better agricultural techniques.
That’s where the worms come in.
Pedro proudly shows off foot-high sprouts of coffee plants that are boxed into a small plot of land just outside the family’s house. He runs his fingers through the rich black soil, a stark contrast to the dusty ground surrounding this plot. He and Concepción are learning how to farm through lombricultura (vermiculture), using worms to produce organic fertilizer for their crops. A.M.C. provides them with “starter worms” that feed on manure from nearby goats, pigs, and pelibüey (a type of sheep). The worms, in turn, produce a rich organic matter that makes the coffee and other crops grow in this eroded area. This is especially important because natural disasters such as hurricanes and mudslides, along with deforestation for lumber and firewood for cooking, have devastated the topsoil in many parts of Nicaragua.
“Acción has been like a bridge for my family, to help us gain knowledge,” Pedro says. “I didn’t know about organic fertilizer. I didn’t know the best ways to farm. I’ve grown maize and beans. Sometimes they would do well, sometimes not. I know more now, and I’m very grateful for what I’ve been taught.”
The coffee plants need a few more years before they start producing income for the family. Right now, they’re the equivalent of a college fund for his children, an investment in their future. In the meantime, the family needs to eat now. So the Granadas are also growing crops for their own consumption: yucca, bananas, plantains, tomatoes, green peppers, sugar cane, mangoes, and citrus fruits. But these are all in various growing stages right now, most not quite ready yet. Eventually the family will be able to diversify its diet, which makes for healthier children and parents.
For the moment the family still relies on rice and beans, the staples of any Nicaraguan diet. As with many staple items in diets around the world, the price of rice has tripled over the last year.
Besides working his own farm in the afternoon, Pedro works from early in the morning at a local plantation, picking the coffee beans in the fields. He makes 40 cordobas a day—about $2.
Two dollars a day must provide for this family of five.
With rising food prices, the Granada family has had to cut back on how much they eat. If they run out of food entirely and anyone has to skip meals, it’s Concepción who does. And yet they express only gratitude for what Acción and funding from development assistance has been able to provide.
So Pedro and Concepción keep working their farm. They tend to their children, to the worms, to their coffee and other crops, looking to the future even as they struggle to live day to day.
