To benefit a country, development aid needs to be a reliable source of assistance, in partnership with recipient countries themselves.
Chinandega, Nicaragua—In northwest Nicaragua, about an hour’s drive from the Honduran border, the country’s tallest volcano, Volcán San Cristóbal, rises nearly 6,000 feet to form a perfect cone that regularly streams gray smoke into the air. At the volcano’s base lie the pasturelands of another force of nature, rancher Nubia Baca.
This determined woman now owns 60 head of dairy cattle on her ranch on the outskirts of Chinandega. But two years ago, after her husband died, Nubia didn’t know if she would even be able to keep her land, must less run a ranch. It was a smaller farm then, with fewer cows producing less milk each day.
“My husband didn’t really think you needed to invest in the farm,” Nubia recalls. “He believed in the traditional ways, that cows could eat whatever’s growing on the land.”
That meant the cows ate mainly the scrubby underbrush growing wild over much of the land. Now a vast field of alfalfa plants, tall and blooming with golden flowers, has displaced that growth. Nearby is the Cameroon grass and sugar cane. This blend of proteins and carbohydrates is more nutritious for the cows. It’s tastier, too, and yes, cows have taste preferences. Nubia’s cows are healthier and producing more milk than ever.
She learned these techniques from agricultural trainers working for Cuenta Reto del Milenio, Nicaragua’s arm of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The MCC is a relatively new U.S. development assistance program. Bread for the World members worked to establish the program through the 2003 Offering of Letters.
With multiple year compacts, the MCC intends to provide a steady source of funding for countries committed to good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people. This differs from other U.S. aid programs, which can only commit funding for one year at a time. MCC-country programs like Cuenta can count on the money being there and plan accordingly.
Besides the training, Cuenta has provided Nubia with 30 percent of the funding to run her ranch for the past two years. She learned about the program through her involvement with Consejo de Mujeres (Council of Women), a local collection of women’s groups. As the MCC first explored what needed to be done in Nicaragua, they consulted with this group for input from the area’s women. Their feedback led to significant improvements in the project. Cuenta hired a gender specialist, Sylvia Torres, to focus specifically on the needs of women and the best ways to work with them, especially to establish small business ventures and agricultural cooperatives.
Nubia learned quickly. Initially she only sold milk straight from the ranch. As her cows’ milk production increased, she realized she could earn more if she used some of the milk to make cheese and leche agria (sour milk similar to sour cream), popular in Nicaragua. So Cuenta helped her purchase large metal milk canisters and a refrigerator for her house, where her cheese-making venture is centered. From 50 liters of milk, she gets about 30 pounds of cheese. In the verdant rainy season, her cows can produce 1,000 liters of milk every day.
The community now knows that Nubia sells dairy products from her home. Some days the line is down the block. She’s also providing employment for others. Six men work for her at the ranch; three women help with the cheese-making.
While she’s proud of her work, she wishes she’d discovered the possibilities years earlier. Both her children have left Nicaragua to live in other countries, her son in the United States and her daughter in Spain. They believed that the lack of job and economic opportunities meant they couldn’t afford to stay and raise families in Chinandega. But Nubia holds out hope that they might return and take over the ranch as she ages.
Seeing what she’s been able to accomplish, she thinks it might work better under her daughter.
“I named (the ranch) Deysi, which is also my daughter’s name. Maybe it’s meant to be hers,” Nubia says with a smile.
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