FoodSecurity Report! 2012...2013/08/13 · 1751Old!Pecos!Trail,!SuiteK,!SantaFe...

1751 Old Pecos Trail, Suite K, Santa Fe, NM 87505 USA • telephone: 800-‐‑334-‐‑9099 • fax: 505-‐‑820-‐‑7565 Priv. de Río Blanco 112-‐‑4 Fracc. Los Sauces, Oaxaca, Oax., México • +52(951)5125139

•www.coffeekids.org•

Food Security Report

2012

These projects were funded in part by funds raised through the

GROW it Forward campaign

Table of contents The Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez (UNOSJO) Comprehensive Demonstration Farm 2 The Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ) Comprehensive Health and Nutrition 13 The Association for Agroecological Development in Coffee (VIDA) Food Sovereignty Initiative 25 Self-‐‑Managed Development (AUGE) Food Sovereignty Initiative 37 The Center for the Support of the Oaxacan Popular Movement (CAMPO) Food Security in Indigenous Communities 49 The Southeast Association for Research and Training (ICSUR) Nutritional and Environmental Education 62 Everything as Indigenous People (TCPI) Community Food Security 75

1751 Old Pecos Trail, Suite K, Santa Fe, NM 87505 USA • telephone: 800-‐‑334-‐‑9099 • fax: 505-‐‑820-‐‑7565

Priv. de Río Blanco 112-‐‑4 Fracc. Los Sauces, Oaxaca, Oax., México • +52(951)5125139 •www.coffeekids.org•

Partner: The Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO)

Project: Comprehensive Demonstration Farm

Program Area: Food Security

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2012 Final Report: UNOSJO – Comprehensive Demonstrative Farm



Program Partner: The Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) Location: Santa Gertrudis, Oaxaca, Mexico Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 21 people from 1 community

Project description: The Union of the Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) was founded in 1992 to give voice to the numerous social and economic development needs of the indigenous popu-‐‑lations that reside in the Sierra Juárez mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. Over the past several years, UNOSJO has supported a number of communities in the region, helping them to design and manage projects in the areas of health, economic diversification and capacity building while continuing to work for the rights of women and indigenous people.

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Initiated in 2010 with the support of Coffee Kids, this past year marked the Comprehensive Demonstrative Farm project’s final stage. The project has supplemented existing agricultural production with new crops to increase revenue streams and has improved the efficiency and sustainability of current agricultural practices by replacing synthetic fertilizers with natural and organic, locally produced fertilizers. Furthermore, the project has seen the construction of ferro-‐‑cement1 tanks to provide safe drinking water to cargo animals on their grazing lands, thus im-‐‑proving productive efficiency in the community and enabling the easy collection of organic fer-‐‑tilizer for crops. The water-‐‑collection tanks will also be used in the processing of coffee and brown sugar (panela). An additional tank was constructed to introduce trout farming both as a food source and as a means of supplemental income, which will help sustain community mem-‐‑bers during the thin months, after income from coffee has dried up. Project rationale:

The rugged mountain terrain and prolonged rainy season that charac-‐‑terize Oaxaca’s Sierra Juárez have contributed to the region’s relative isolation. Santa Gertrudis lies within the Villa Talea de Castro municipali-‐‑ty, the second-‐‑smallest village in a municipality with fewer than 2500 residents, and lies along high, wind-‐‑ing dirt roads that are difficult to traverse even in optimal conditions. The isolation of many communities within the region has been com-‐‑

pounded by a lack of investment in transportation, educational and service infrastructure, re-‐‑sulting in few opportunities to share information, such as agroecological approaches to agron-‐‑omy.

Despite a strong agricultural system that has enabled families to subsist for hundreds of years2, in recent years unpredictable rain patterns and prolonged droughts have damaged many of the crops that have historically constituted the main foods for people in the area, forcing them to 1 Ferrocement is a material made from steel and cement, mixed with sand and water. 2 Source: See Robert González’s excellent book Zapotec Science: Farming and Food in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca (2001) on farming systems in Talea de Castro.

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buy seeds and foods with unknown origins. Many of these seeds are not only more expensive than local varieties, they are also frequently less nutritious, not to mention less adapted to the local environment and ecosystem.

In the case of Santa Gertrudis, this situation has disrupted local food provisioning, reducing bi-‐‑odiversity within crops, and thus potentially increasing susceptibility to disease and blight. With, on average, only 30 percent of income deriving from the production of coffee3, and with coffee yields diminishing throughout the region4, many families working with UNOSJO have increasingly had to seek supplementary sources of income. As it is estimated that only 30 per-‐‑cent of the community’s nutritional needs can be derived from subsistence farming5, the com-‐‑munity faces major challenges to food security during the thin months, when income from cof-‐‑fee has dried up6.

UNOSJO’s Comprehensive Demonstration Farm was envisioned as a way for local coffee farm-‐‑ers to find a solution to these continuing problems of food security, poverty and the sharing of technology. Through the implementation of sustainable farming techniques that speak to the challenges posed by climate change and through responsible animal husbandry, farming fami-‐‑lies can eventually provide enough food to meet their family’s daily needs while also generating enough surplus production to provide extra income. The farm will also serve as an information and training hub for the wider region as it becomes more established.

Project objectives: This project has seen the construction of three ferro-‐‑cement tanks: two for water collection for cargo animals during the rainy season and one for trout farming. By collecting rainwater, a steady water supply is ensured during the dry season, thus reducing the labor used to collect water and enabling animals to graze without trampling crops in search of water. This improves the efficiency of the productive system. The third tank is being used to raise trout that will serve as a source of food and income for the community.

3 Source: 2010. UNOSJO internal surveys. 4 Source: 2000 – 2011 SAGARPA SIAP. Coffee Production Data. 5 Source: 2010. UNOSJO internal surveys. 6 Sources: 2001. David Quist & Ignacio H. Chapela. Nature. Nature 414, 541-‐‑543;

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Expected Results Results to date Construction of two ferro-‐‑cement tanks for cargo animals

Completed One 10-‐‑cubic-‐‑meter and one 6-‐‑cubic-‐‑meter tanks have been built

Construction of one ferro-‐‑cement tank for 2000 trout

Completed One 6-‐‑cubic-‐‑meter tank built

Elaboration and application of bokashi7 ferti-‐‑lizers to improve agricultural products

Completed 400 sacks of bokashi fertilizer elaborated

Elaboration and application of liquid super-‐‑magro (mineral salt) fertilizer

Completed 5 batches of super-‐‑magro (mineral salt) ferti-‐‑lizer applied

Elaboration and application of Bordeaux Mix-‐‑ture8 (for disease control) and other organic insecticides

Completed 21 participants sprayed the Bordeaux Mixture on their parcelas and corn/bean fields

2000 trout fingerlings purchased Completed All 2000 trout fingerlings purchased and es-‐‑tablished in the tank

One fish tank with oxygen to transport live fish purchased

Completed One fish tank was bought but has not been used yet to transport fish; the participants will use it during lent when the trout are the right size to be processed

7 Bokashi is a composting method that uses fermentation. 8 Bordeaux Mixture is an organic treatment for fungal infection.

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Project activities and schedule:

Activity Schedule Actual

Elaboration and application of organic fertilizers

Feb 2012, Mar 2012, May 2012, Jun 2012

April 2012, August 2012, De-‐‑cember 2012

Elaboration and application of fungicides and bactericides

Mar 2012 – Apr 2012 April 2012

Monitoring field visits Jan 2012 – Dec 2012 January 2012 – Aug 2012 Construction of ferro-‐‑cement tanks

Jan 2012, October 2012

February 2012 – March 2012, August 2012

Purchase of 2000 trout November 2012 December 2012 Acquisition of oxygen tank to transfer fish for sale

October 2012 April 2012

Coffee Kids monitoring and evaluation program trip

February 2012 February 2012

Lessons learned/comments:

The Comprehensive Demonstration Farm will also eventually serve as a training center where local families can learn about agroecological techniques related to vegetable cultivation and re-‐‑source management. As the skills learned at the farm are passed on to other families within UNOSJO’s wider community, the ability to combat the issues of food security and chronic pov-‐‑erty increases exponentially. Sustainability is achieved through the sale of surplus crops, poul-‐‑try, farmed trout and organic eggs.

Project participants:

Community Participants

Men Women Boys Girls Total Ex-‐‑Hacienda de Santa

Gertrudis 7 8 4 2 21

TOTAL 7 8 4 2 21

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APPENDIX 1: Participant Stories

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Name: Guillermo Cruz Age: 57 years old Community: Santa Gertrudis (Talea de Castro), Oaxaca, Mexico Partner: UNOSJO Project: Comprehensive Demonstration Farm Years in the project: 2

Guillermo Cruz is 57 years old and is an active par-‐‑ticipant in UNOSJO’s food security efforts. He has four children and, together with his wife, farms two hectares of land planted with coffee, corn and sugar-‐‑cane. Guillermo has benefited from the construction of three water tanks because it has given him easier access to much-‐‑needed water for his horse and two oxen and for processing sugarcane into panela, or

brown sugar, which is a very laborious and time-‐‑intensive process.

Apart from farming his land, Guillermo has started to farm tilapia in a small pond he built be-‐‑hind his house. He plans to consume half of the 80 tilapia fingerlings he bought and sell the other half to his neighbors. If everything goes well, Guillermo plans to continue farming fish, on a small scale, to supplement his families’ diet as well as his income.

In the words of Mr. Cruz:

“I really appreciate all the help that we’ve been receiving. I was suffering a lot from the lack of water up there [where I grow my coffee and sugarcane] because I used to carry the water, with the help of my horse, and I would normally have to walk three hours to the nearest well. Now with these tanks, I can save all that time I used to use to go down there [to the nearest well] and use it to clean my coffee plot or spend more time with my family.”

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Name: Margarito Hernández Age: 49 years old Community: Santa Gertrudis (Talea de Castro), Oaxaca, Mexico Partner: UNOSJO Project: Comprehensive Demonstration Farm Years in the project: 1

Margarito Hernández and his wife, Oliva, live with their two sons in the community of Santa Gertrudis. Santa Gertrudis is a coffee-‐‑growing community tucked in the Sierra Norte of the state of Oaxaca; it takes about 5 hours by car to get there from Oaxaca City.

Margarito is an innovator, a coffee grower and a farmer. Together with his two sons he plants about 2

hectares of corn and 1 hectare of coffee. He has a small plot with sugarcane, just enough to sup-‐‑ply his family year-‐‑round with panela (brown sugar). Margarito has been experimenting with different kinds of corn for the past 20 years and has bred a variety of corn that is resistant to droughts and yields about 1.5 tons per hectare (within the region, the average is 1 ton of corn per hectare). He stores the corn he harvests with his sons in the basement of his house where it stays dry and is protected from inclement weather. Margarito is able to harvest about three tons of corn during the two main growing seasons.

He is struggling with his coffee yields, and he plans to put all his efforts toward increasing productivity in his coffee parcela. Margarito has benefited from the construction of the water tanks because his cornfield lies right below one of them. He uses the water tank to give water to the oxen he employs to till the land.

In the words of Mr. Hernández:

“I have to provide for my family first. That is why I’ve been experimenting with corn for the past 20 years, so that I can have healthy and strong plants that provide me with enough corn to feed my family. I also realize that coffee is important, so that is why I will focus on that next. Coffee is our main source of income so it would be bad for me not to pay attention to it.

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“Thanks to UNOSJO’s help with building the water tanks, I can now use it to give water to my oxen and till my land in half the time because I don’t have to go get water.”

Name: Neon Cruz Age: 64 years old Community: Santa Gertrudis (Talea de Castro), Oaxaca, Mexico Partner: UNOSJO Project: Comprehensive Demonstration Farm Years in the project: 2

Neon Cruz is a slender man with a lovely family and great energy. His day usually starts at 5:00 am and finishes at 10:00 pm, af-‐‑ter he makes sure all his chickens have en-‐‑tered the chicken coop. Since he was young, Mr. Neon always showed great interest for working in the field and would usually ac-‐‑company his dad to the family parcela where he would pick coffee or help with making

panela. When he was about 40 years old, he had a chance to go with his cousin to the United States (which he knew would enable him to make much more money than working in the field) but he passed on that opportunity because he felt a very strong connection to his land and his family. Neon is shy and reserved, but his silence hides the knowledge he has acquired from work-‐‑ing in the field. He knows many types of medicinal plants and knows when his corn will be ready for harvesting. He can predict when the rainy season will start and how much a bag of coffee weighs just by looking at it. He is an inventor as well as an observer: he designed his own coffee depulping machine! Thanks to this project, Neon, together with five other participants, was able to construct a cement tank that will hold up to 2000 trout. The trout will be farmed and sold at the local markets where they are expecting to recover their costs and begin turning a profit by the second year of operation.

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Mr. Cruz describes this project in few words: “This project will allow us [me and my family as well as other families] to improve our liv-‐‑ing conditions by providing us with an extra source of income and much-‐‑needed water for our working animals. It will allow me to have some money to buy medicines when my family gets sick. Before we would have to almost beg moneylenders to lend us the money to pay for the doctor and medicines. Sometimes food is not the problem—I have enough corn to feed my family—but the doctor or people at the store don’t take my corn—they want money! “I’m grateful for [Coffee Kids’] help and for allowing us the opportunity to make our own living. This trout tank will do just that. We will take care of it, and every time we go sell our trout, I’ll be very proud of what we have achieved and where we came from.”

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Partner: Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ)

Project: Comprehensive Health and Nutrition


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2012 Final Report: ASER MAIZ – Comprehensive Health and Nutrition



Program Partner: Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ) Location: Veracruz, Mexico Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 98 participants from 9 communities (originally 85 participants from 8 com-‐‑munities); approximately 60 additional families also benefit

Project description: The Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ) promotes community development by improving the economic, social and political conditions within rural communities in Veracruz, Mexico. Founded in 1996, the organization was born out of the economic and social crises that affected many rural areas in Mexico after the signing of the North American Free Trade Agree-‐‑ment (NAFTA), which saw government disinvestment in rural areas combined with a focus on agricultural production for export rather than internal consumption. ASER MAIZ seeks to build the capacities of rural families in the areas of sustainable agriculture, food security, develop-‐‑

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ment and organizational skills and help them to more effectively demand public services from the government. As a continuation of their previous collaboration with Coffee Kids through their Participative Integrated Health project, the Comprehensive Health and Nutrition project has taken a multi-‐‑dimensional approach to health and nutrition as a response to current regional health and food security issues. Attentive to local increases in the rate of malnutrition and related health prob-‐‑lems and to the more frequent occurrence of crop plagues and loss due to heavy rainfall, the project has built the capacities of project participants through a series of workshops on sustain-‐‑able food production.

This year’s project has directly benefited 98 individuals (about 60 families) within 9 rural indigenous Totonaca communities in the municipality of Mecatlán in northern Veracruz and, through education and knowledge sharing, benefits at least 60 additional families. Taking an integrat-‐‑ed approach to resolving current and future health and food security problems, participants and local promoters have not only gained a better theoretical understanding of current health issues and food production issues, they are also given the chance to apply knowledge practically. Community members have, thus, been able to diversify their food production and increase yields so as to achieve a better diet. The project has also incorporated training in beekeeping as an additional source of income for the community and focuses on the recovery of traditional medicine as a means to treat common illnesses.

Project rationale: In recent years, population growth and an over-‐‑reliance on coffee as a primary source of income within the communities where ASER MAIZ works have made it difficult to sustain traditional methods of subsistence agriculture. Coupled with increased instances of blight brought on by changes to weather patterns, these factors have exacerbated dependency on foods sourced out-‐‑side of the community. The rising cost of food staples in recent years has also contributed to food insecurity locally, resulting in increased levels of malnutrition and increased incidences of

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associated preventable illnesses.1 These illnesses have often spread unchecked due to limited access to health care and pharmaceutical remedies. These phenomena are common throughout Mexico, as the country’s entry into NAFTA in 1994 forced multiple transformations in land tenure and agricultural production that pushed rural regions toward intensive agricultural production for an export market rather than for local or even internal consumption. Mexico’s current food insecurity is due in part to these changes. Now, more than 20 million Mexican citizens find themselves with inadequate access to food2, a number that has increased since the early 2000s.3 The process has been particularly pronounced in Veracruz, where staple foods, such as corn and beans, have suffered low yields in recent years due to crop diseases brought about by climate change. In particular, the municipalities of Filomeno Mata and Mecatlán, where ASER MAIZ works, are some of the worst off in the state with up to 75 percent of the population suffering some form of food insecurity and some of the lowest levels of social development and access to services in the state.4 Community members are not only vulnerable to the ever-‐‑changing climate patterns that can damage and even destroy their food crops; they also have few resources to combat the impact of these conditions on the health of community members. Furthermore, the provisioning of health services in the Totonaca region have lagged behind in-‐‑creases in population, particularly since 20005, which has negatively impacted health care access in the municipalities where ASER MAIZ works. Local health centers are understaffed and un-‐‑derfunded, sometimes going months at a time with no access to the medicines necessary to combat curable diseases.6 For many rural communities, these centers can be difficult and expen-‐‑sive to reach. State medical care can be supplemented with natural medicine. However, ASER MAIZ has found that most of these communities have witnessed the gradual loss of their ances-‐‑tral knowledge as elders pass away and their expertise in the use of traditional medicine has not passed on to the next generation.

1 Source: 2011. ASER MAIZ’s internal diagnostics. Over the past two years, the organization has identified increased rates of maternal mortality and has also observed epidemics of hepatitis, cholera and dysentery in the municipalities where they work. 2 Source: 2010. Mileneo Online from FAO/Sagarpa figures. http://puebla.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9044085 3 Source: 2010. National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) 4 Source: 2011. Mapa Cartográfico del Observatorio en Seguridad Alimentaria del Estado de Veracruz. Universidad de Veracruz (most recent statistics from 2005). 5 Source: 1995 – 2011. SEFIPLAN using figures from INEGI. 6 Source: 2012. Local news sources and El Calor Politico, Veracruz http://www.alcalorpolitico.com/informacion/nota.php?idnota=86982#.UD4eFdZlS7A

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ASER MAIZ’s Participative Integrated Health project began in 2009 in response to these dual issues of health care and food security. The management of ASER MAIZ recognized that, alt-‐‑hough their member communities had varied needs, positive and sustainable change in any one area would be impossible unless people were healthy. With the belief that the solution to many of their most basic health care problems might lie in the reintroduction of many of these tradi-‐‑tional practices and sustainable subsistence agriculture, ASER MAIZ solicited the support of Coffee Kids and, as a result, the Participative Integrated Health project was born. Project objectives: This integral health project promotes the use of traditional and preventive medicinal knowledge to reduce the incidence of curable diseases among the population. In addition, this project di-‐‑versifies the production and consumption of food by training participants to take advantage of high-‐‑yield crops and promoting the recovery of lost local crops. At the same time, beekeeping has been introduced as an alternative source of income and as a dietary supplement.

Expected results Results to date 35 health promoters trained Partially completed

35 women initiated training to become health promoters; 25 women completed all three health and alternative-‐‑medicine workshops

Production of informational health education materials

Completed 2 informational brochures on health, illnesses and food sovereignty; 1 brochure on the nutri-‐‑tional properties of honey; 1 brochure on how to prepare traditional herbal medicines

Promote illness prevention and the recovery and use of alternative medicine among women in the region

Completed 74 women attended 6 workshops on how to use and prepare traditional herbal medicines such as soaps, syrups, tinctures, and oint-‐‑ments; 100 different medicinal products creat-‐‑ed during each workshop

Diversify the production and consumption of food

Completed • 59 participants attended 2 workshops on

compost and bio-‐‑fertilizers; 2 demonstra-‐‑tive compost heaps made

• 46 participants attended 2 workshops on planning and setting up a family vegetable

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garden • 11 families from the community of Ricardo

Flores Magón established a raised-‐‑bed vegetable garden; 7 families from the community of Rancho Alegre and 21 fami-‐‑lies from the community of Filomeno Mata established a community vegetable garden

• 2 participants attended an experience ex-‐‑change in the state of Oaxaca where they learned how to grow and care for ama-‐‑ranth plants; they brought back 3 kilo-‐‑grams of amaranth seed and distributed it to 18 other participants who have started small scale experimental plots

Introduce beekeeping as an alternative source of income and as a dietary supplement

Partially completed • 26 participants attended a beekeeping

workshop where they learned to care for the bees and how to extract the honey

• 5 participants each received a beehive box and a bee colony and started honey pro-‐‑duction; funds did not arrive in time to purchase the other bee colonies for the rest of the participants

• 26 participants attended a workshop on how to build their own beehive boxes

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Project activities and schedule:

Activity Schedule Actual

One informational workshop with the participation of candidates who will be-‐‑come health promoters

February 2012 February 2012

Production of informational brochures to distribute in 6 communities

January 2012 March 2012

6 workshops on health and alternative medicine for 35 health promoters

April, May 2012 March, August 2012

2 workshops on bio-‐‑fertilizers and com-‐‑post making

February, March 2012

April 2012

1 seed exchange among all the partici-‐‑pants

October 2012 October 2012

50 families receive training on how to plan and set up a family vegetable garden dur-‐‑ing 2 workshops

June, August 2012 August 2012

Educational exchange in the state of Oa-‐‑xaca, Mexico for participants to learn about amaranth cultivation

August 2012 August 2012

Beekeeping workshop March 2012 March 2012

Acquisition of 5 beehive boxes and 5 bee colonies

March 2012 May 2012

1 workshop on how to build beehive box-‐‑es using local materials

March 2012 June 2012

Lessons learned/comments: Local health promoters trained by ASER MAIZ continue to educate others within their commu-‐‑nities regarding illnesses caused by malnutrition and poor hygiene. They also continue to con-‐‑vey methods of illness prevention. As the project has promoted seed sharing between partici-‐‑pants and others in the community so as to perpetuate and expand project benefits, it is ex-‐‑pected that the roots of long-‐‑term sustainability of the project have been successfully fostered.

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Community Participants Men Women Boys Girls Total

Filomeno Mata 2 24 1 27 Mecatlán 2 11 1 14 Rancho Alegre 2 8 1 11 Ricardo Flores Magón 5 20 25 Panorama 1 3 4 Coyutla 2 5 7 El Piñal 2 2 Arenal 1 3 4 La Chaca 4 4 TOTAL 21 74 3 98

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Name: Guadalupe Cabañas Salazar Age: 21 years old Community: Rancho Alegre, Veracruz, Mexico Partner: ASER MAIZ Project: Comprehensive Health and Nutrition Years in the project: 2

Guadalupe Cabañas Salazar just turned 21 and is already very interested in learn-‐‑ing how to make herbal remedies. She is originally from Rancho Alegre, which is in the Mecatlán municipality in Veracruz, Mexico. Guadalupe began participating in the Comprehensive and Demonstrative Health project in March of 2011. She orig-‐‑inally enrolled in the project because her son, who is two, was frequently getting sick with sore throats and other respira-‐‑tory illnesses, and she wasn’t able to af-‐‑

ford medicine for him. In a workshop for the preparation of natural medicine, Guadalupe learned to make syrups that help combat respiratory illnesses and tinctures for diabetes and anemia. Guadalupe never imagined that she would be making her own medicine, as she thought this type of knowledge had nearly died out in her region. The people who knew the most are quite elderly by now or have passed away. Thanks to the project, though, Guadalupe has been able to recover a portion of this traditional knowledge. She plans to teach her son and her neighbors what she has learned about herbal medicine. Guadalupe says: “I belong to a group of health promoters and, together with three other women from my com-‐‑munity, we have promoted herbal medicine as an alternative to medicines you find in the pharmacy. These are very expensive and many people can’t afford them. We make soaps, syr-‐‑ups, tinctures and salves — all suitable for treating common health problems in my community. “My community lacks drinking water and many people get stomach problems. The worst thing is that we don’t have a health clinic, and people have to travel as many as two hours [to get to]

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the nearest clinic. All these activities that help us learn traditional herbal treatments are very beneficial to the community. "ʺ

Name: María Antonia Texco Álvarez

Age: 38 years old Community: Panorama, Veracruz, Mexico Partner: ASER MAIZ Project: Comprehensive Health and Nutrition Years in the project: 2

María Antonia Álvarez Texco is 38 years old and has been involved in the Com-‐‑prehensive Health and Nutrition project since January 2011. She initially joined so that she could learn to prepare cough syrups and identify medicinal plants that she could use to make her own syrups. María Antonia has two sons and one daughter and taking care of requires most of her time. But whenever she has a free moment, she goes to look for medic-‐‑inal plants in the forest near her commu-‐‑nity.

In addition to working with a group of women in her community, she helps in her local health clinic, primarily looking after women’s health. María Antonia (best known as Tonia) is very active and enthusiastic. She loves to talk to people, and that is why she was chosen to give ASER MAIZ workshops in her community. In the words of María Antonia "ʺTonia"ʺ: "ʺIn order to learn, you have to put it into practice. In my community there are many herbs that we can use to address our health, and with the workshops, I'ʹve managed to harness them to address and prevent diseases in women and children. I am very grateful to everyone for allow-‐‑ing me to share my knowledge; now I can practice what I have learned and help my family and the people of my community. "ʺ

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Name: Carmen Velázquez Galicia Age: 56 years old Community: Rancho Alegre, Veracruz, Mexico Partner: ASER MAIZ Project: Comprehensive Health and Nutrition Years in the project: 2

Participating in this project has given Carmen not only knowledge of herbal medicine but also a con-‐‑fidence in herself that she didn’t have before. Peo-‐‑ple in her community now visit her for advice on which herbs can be used to treat bruises and cuts, or which plant can be used to make a tea to treat and stop diarrhea. She has also begun directing walks that she calls "ʺhealth walks,"ʺ where she shows people in her community various types of medicinal plants that are freely available where they live and how they can prepare and use the

plants. Carmen has been involved in the project since January 2011, but she had some knowledge of herbal medicine before she started, as her mother taught her when she was a child. Carmen Velázquez tells us: "ʺI know about a number of herbs that can be found around Rancho Alegre and how our ances-‐‑tors used them traditionally. But now that I'ʹm doing these tours, I find that many people in the community don’t have that knowledge or have lost it over time. We’re very fortunate to have our medicine at hand. Through this project, I’ve learned about more herbs, [many I] didn’t know before, and I'ʹm glad that I’m able to share this knowledge with other women in Rancho Alegre."ʺ

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Partner: The Association for Agroecological Development in Coffee (VIDA)

Project: Food Sovereignty Initiative


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2012 Final Report: VIDA – Food Sovereignty Initiative



Program Partner: The Association for Agroecological Development in Coffee (VIDA) Location: Veracruz, Mexico Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 355 people from approximately 170 families in 12 communities

Project description:

The Association for Agroecological Development in Coffee (VIDA), founded in 2009, is based in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, and currently represents more than 180 coffee producers, of which 30 percent are women. VIDA is the result of more than 20 years of cooperative effort be-‐‑tween coffee producers from the region of Ixhuatlán del Café who have combined their efforts to market their coffees as a group. In recent years the organization has begun an exploration of the costs and benefits of converting their crops from conventional to organic and has sought outside funding to make improvements to infrastructure and to initiate product diversification that will ensure more reliable year-‐‑round income for its members. Furthermore, in recognition that food security is one of the main challenges faced by nearly every coffee-‐‑producing family,

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VIDA has embarked on a program to promote food security among rural populations, provid-‐‑ing training in sustainable, small-‐‑scale farming and nutrition with an emphasis on local heir-‐‑loom varietals.

Coffee Kids’ and VIDA’s collaboration on the Food Sovereignty Initiative brings improved food security to more than 170 families from 12 different communities. These participating families act as community catalysts, working toward positive change in the farming and consumption habits of other area residents. The introduction of sustainable-‐‑farming habits reduces mono-‐‑crops’ effect on the local environment and also provides a source of fresh, nutritious produce, creating an additional source of revenue while reducing the consumption of processed foods. The Food Sovereignty Initiative has also promoted the adoption of wood-‐‑saving stoves for 20 families. These Onil stoves reduce the amount of wood necessary for building a fire, which re-‐‑duces wood consumption and, thus, the amount of time women and children spend collecting wood. The stoves also carry smoke out of the kitchen through a chimney, which means less smoke is inhaled in the kitchen, particularly by women who spend many hours over the stove every day.

Project rationale:

Families in the coffee-‐‑growing communities where VIDA works are highly dependent upon coffee production for their income. According to an internal survey, VIDA pro-‐‑ducers depend on the commercialization of coffee for around 40 percent of their net income. In order to live with dignity, it is estimated that each coffee grower should pro-‐‑duce at least 7.3 tons of coffee cherries per year.1 However, VIDA members produce on average only 2.5 tons of coffee cherries per year. This production does not provide enough to live on year-‐‑round for most producers, presenting the problem of seasonal hunger that is all too common in cof-‐‑fee-‐‑producing countries throughout Latin America. In March of 2009, VIDA conducted a series of surveys among

its membership and found that more than 95 percent of its members could benefit from finding 1 After processing, 7.3 tons of cherries would amount to about 27 quintales of parchment coffee (1 quintal = 63 kg of coffee). Approximately 60% of its weight is lost in this process.

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alternatives to their reliance on their annual coffee crop as their sole source of income.

As throughout rural Mexico, the increased costs associated with commercial agriculture com-‐‑bined with easy access to relatively inexpensive (though nutrient poor) mass-‐‑produced foods has resulted in the local population relying more and more on processed and junk foods for their daily dietary intake. As a result, there has been a sharp increase in malnutrition and diabe-‐‑tes rates, especially among the younger members of the population.

Furthermore, the heavy reliance on inefficient, open-‐‑flame wood-‐‑burning stoves causes respira-‐‑tory illnesses due to cooking over an open fire indoors. It has led to a deterioration of the health and quality of life of many women and children across the region. VIDA’s efforts to improve access to local, fresh foods through establishing demonstration vege-‐‑table gardens and providing training in organic vegetable production techniques go a long way toward improving the health of the local population by improving their nutrition. Project objectives: This project has promoted healthier diets based on locally grown vegetables and fruits while also increasing family food consumption by up to 15 percent. The participants have learned and contributed to planting and harvesting vegetables and fruits and have participated in work-‐‑shops where they have learned to prepare healthy meals using what they grow. Furthermore, the project has promoted the adoption of wood-‐‑saving stoves for 20 families, which will allow for a reduction in wood consumption, in the amount of smoke women inhale while cooking and in the time women and children spend collecting wood.

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Expected results Results to date 170 families from 12 communities trained in food production and vegetable planting

Completed 80 families trained in how to grow their own food on family vegetable gardens; 80 addi-‐‑tional families learned to diversify their vege-‐‑table production in already-‐‑established vege-‐‑table gardens

170 families receive and plant fruit trees in their gardens and backyards or coffee plots

Completed 170 families planted 850 fruit trees (oranges, apples and mandarins)

20 families receive and install wood-‐‑saving Onil stoves

Completed All 20 families received and installed their wood-‐‑saving Onil stoves

20 families trained in how to use and operate their wood-‐‑saving stoves

Completed All 20 families trained in the proper use of their wood-‐‑saving stoves; six follow-‐‑up visits to check on the proper use and efficiency of the stoves

170 families attend a series of workshops on food preparation with local ingredients

Completed 75 families attended 8 workshops on food preparation with local ingredients and an ad-‐‑ditional 75 families exchanged their recipes for local dishes during 8 workshops

Sensitize the local population on issues like food security and nutrition

Completed 100 children from 12 communities attended six workshops on food security and how it affects their nutrition

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Project activities and schedule: Activity Schedule Actual

Workshops on food production and vege-‐‑table planting

January 2012 January, February 2012

Selection of families that receive fruit trees and fruit-‐‑tree planting

April, May 2012 April, June 2012

Monitoring field visits January 2012 – October 2012

January 2012 – Octo-‐‑ber 2012

Food preparation and recipe-‐‑exchange workshops

June, July 2012 March – June 2012

Installation of wood-‐‑saving stoves April 2012 February, March 2012 Workshop on use and care of wood-‐‑saving stoves

May 2012 March, April 2012

Workshops on food security targeted at children

Not planned in the origi-‐‑nal proposal

August, November 2012

Coffee Kids monitoring and evaluation program trip

June 2012 Did not take place

Lessons learned/comments: For some participants, the project has represented a way to provide fresh, nutritious food for their families throughout the year, while for others the value of the project has been in the po-‐‑tential to provide additional revenue. All participants have stated that they plan on expanding their production in the coming years in the hope of eventually producing enough to meet the needs of their families while also having enough left over to barter with neighbors or sell at lo-‐‑cal markets. VIDA plans to continue to work with current participating families and expand to other communities in future years, encouraging agricultural diversification and economic op-‐‑portunity among its membership.

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Community Participants Men Women Girls Boys Total

Ixcatla 21 30 22 20 93 Zacamitla 20 21 21 22 84 Piedra Parada 10 10 20 20 60 Plan de Ayala 14 34 48 Guzmantla 16 16

Ixhuatlán de Café 10 19 29

Ocotitlán 2 3 5 Nevería 1 1 2 Col. Romero 0 2 2 Potrerillo 0 1 1 Cruz de los Naranjos 6 7 13 Crucero de Zapata 1 1 2

Totals 85 145 63 62 355

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Name: Silvia Bonilla Vidal Age: 30 years old Community: Zacamitla, Veracruz, Mexico Partner: VIDA Project: Food Sovereignty Initiative Years in the project: 2

Silvia Bonilla is on the committee for the children’s savings group that her son at-‐‑tends. In addition to helping manage the group, she also helps conduct workshops for children on protecting the environment and how it is possible to eat from the land, without having to spend money at the store. Together with the health promoters of VIDA, Silvia has distributed various vegetable plants, including radishes, let-‐‑tuce, chard and others, and has taught chil-‐‑

dren how to plant these and how to care for them so that they will eventually harvest many dif-‐‑ferent delicious vegetables.

Silvia has also participated in VIDA’s food security project, working to establish a kitchen gar-‐‑den that she has behind her house. Lately she has enjoyed planting local vegetables such as wild greens and other tender greens that she remembers her mother preparing when she was young. Before, Silvia only planted tomatoes, chilies and lettuce because that was what her family was used to eating, but she realized that planting only these vegetables was going to become more challenging as they are increasingly subject to illnesses and plagues.

Ms. Bonilla says:

“Thanks to this project, my son and I have had the opportunity to learn how to cultivate vege-‐‑tables behind our home. Before, we bought almost everything in the market, but now we have our own garden. Through our own production, we [have reduced our food expenses] to about half of what we were spending previously. My son is also learning the value of growing his own food, and he helps me care for the garden. Also, I believe it is important that we choose the

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varieties of vegetables that we want to produce because, in my case, I like greens a lot, and now I’m able to plant and eat them!”

Name: Inés Cantor Marín Age: 35 years old Community: Ixcatla, Veracruz, Mexico Partner: VIDA Project: Food Sovereignty Initiative Years in the project: 3

For Inés, the kitchen has always been a place of learning, a place where she can express her-‐‑self best – you could almost say it is like a place of worship to her. The kitchen is Inés’s territory, and no one may enter without her say-‐‑so. From the moment she wakes until she goes to sleep, you can find her there making tortillas or grilling tomatoes for a salsa.

No one forces her to be there. Rather, she chooses it for herself because she loves cook-‐‑

ing for other people. The problem is that traditional kitchens in Mexico usually don’t have good ventilation. Women like Inés cook over an open flame with a clay hot plate and, as she does, they often spend hours on end cooking. Smoke lingers and sometimes completely fills the kitchen. Inés was finding that the more time she spent cooking, the more she would begin to cough and wheeze. The smoke from the fire really began to affect her lungs, so much so that the doctor told her that she should no longer cook due to the high risk of a serious asthma attack.

However, thanks to the Food Sovereignty Initiative, Inés was one of the recipients of an Onil stove that not only helps her save wood but also has a chimney that carries the smoke out of her kitchen, away from her lungs. Since she has received her new stove, things have been so much better that she has come up with the idea of selling food to people working in the fields within the community, thus raising enough money to cover her household expenses.

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In her words:

“This stove has been a blessing because I couldn’t even get near a stove before because of the smoke that my old [open-‐‑flame stove] was producing. But now I have this new stove and there is not any smoke in my kitchen at all. And I even use less wood, which means I don’t have to gather wood as much, which gives me more time to cook. Now I’m planning on making food to sell to workers in the fields and, in this way, earn a little more money to help my husband pay for household expenses.”

Name: Isabel Delin Age: 17 years old Community: Ixcatla, Veracruz, Mexico Partner: VIDA Project: Food Sovereignty Initiative Years in the project: 3

Isabel never much liked playing with dolls or sitting in front of the television. What she loved the most when she was young was watching her mother make tortillas and oth-‐‑er traditional dishes from the region. She also liked to spend her summers helping her father harvest corn, beans, squash and other crops grown in their fields. Thanks to this interest in cooking and work in the country-‐‑side, Isabel joined VIDA as a nutrition edu-‐‑cator and promoter in her community. The

experience has been very enriching and challenging for her, as the majority of women currently participating in the project are quite a bit older than she is, so she has had to find ways to pre-‐‑sent her knowledge that doesn’t offend or show a lack of respect for her elders. In truth, her po-‐‑sition is as much about learning as teaching. Her main role as a promoter has been to recover traditional regional dishes that are not prepared very frequently anymore. Most of these incor-‐‑porate local produce and goods that many people are no longer familiar with, but many of the

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grandmothers participating in the project are teaching her and other participants about these disappearing foods.

Another important role for her is motivating other young people to get involved in the project. In recent years, many young people have thought that their future lay only in moving to the United States to work. While young participants have learned to cultivate and take care of a va-‐‑riety of vegetables and crops, they also learn from promoters like Isabel that life across the bor-‐‑der isn’t always the pretty picture that has been painted for them. Isabel knows this well be-‐‑cause her father migrated to the United States when she was a child, and when he came back (she was 15 at the time), he explained to her that life was very hard on the other side and swore he would never migrate again.

In Isabel’s words:

“I love the kitchen and the countryside. I think that one wouldn’t exist without the other. Since I was a child, I’ve appreciated so much the work that is done in the fields and that which is done in the kitchen. I used to help my father when he went to harvest maize and also helped my mother make tortillas. I believe that, these days, very few young people help their parents or know very much about the countryside or cooking. This is the reason that I joined this project – so that I can motivate more young people to learn about their roots and how food arrives on their plates. I like talking to the grandmothers a lot, because they have a lot of knowledge that is disappearing. For example, I didn’t know that chayote root could be eaten or that you can make five different dishes using it.”

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Partner: Self-‐‑Managed Development (AUGE)

Project: Food Sovereignty Initiative


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2012 Final Report: AUGE – Food Sovereignty Initiative



Program Partner: Self-‐‑Managed Development (AUGE) Location: Veracruz, Mexico Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 500 women and men (original: 300 women and men and 10 health promoters); 2,500 beneficiaries (family members)

Project description: Based in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, Self-‐‑Managed Development (AUGE) works with coffee-‐‑growing communities to develop programs that combat poverty in some of the poorest areas of the state. By supporting the work of 20 health promoters and raising awareness among 500 women and men in rural communities in Veracruz, Mexico, AUGE’s Food Sovereignty Initiative reduces the availability and consumption of junk food in local schools and promotes a healthier diet at home. Participants attend workshops and seminars that highlight the importance of eating well and also learn the medicinal and culinary uses of local plants. The project contributes a permanent segment on AUGE’s radio program, Sueños de Café,

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through which listeners learn about childhood obesity and its prevention. The radio show has an estimated 300,000 weekly listeners in the regions of Coatepec and Huatusco.

Project rationale:

In Veracruz, as in the rest of Mexico, increasing numbers of children suffer from obesity. In fact, figures have tripled since 1980.1 According to Mexico’s Department of Health, around 22 percent of children living in rural Veracruz between the ages of 5 and 19 are either overweight or obese. Conversely, approximately 13.5 percent are malnourished and underweight. Adults suffer as well. Eighteen percent of adults in Veracruz have been diagnosed with a blood sugar disorder, a figure that is growing at the rate of 2 percent annually.2

These statistics are all attributable to poor nutrition and mal-‐‑ or undernourishment driven by a host of factors, including increased prevalence of advertisements for cheap, highly processed foods, rising food prices, reduced time and land available to devote to subsistence agriculture (due to reliance on coffee as a cash crop), and the ready availability of junk food on school grounds. These factors greatly increase the risk of obesity and

1 Source: Secretaría de Salud, México (2006) 2 ENSAULT, 2006

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malnourishment and, later in life, chronic diseases associated with obesity, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension. Indeed, diagnostics developed by AUGE have recently identified high levels of illnesses associated with malnutrition in the communities where they work. These include anemia, obesity, dental cavities and diabetes in both children and adults.

Project objectives:

By supporting the work of 20 health promoters and increasing awareness among children and their families, this project reduces the sale and consumption of junk food in local schools and promotes a healthier diet at home. Five hundred participants (200 more than originally planned) have learned the importance of eating well and have made significant steps toward recovering traditional medicinal and culinary uses of local plants.

3 Onil stoves are ecologically sound and reduce C02 and smoke emissions within the home. They also reduce firewood consumption. www.onilstove.com

Expected results Results to date

10 local health promoters trained to coordinate the project’s activities

Exceeded 20 local health promoters were trained

300 women from 10 savings groups receive training on nutrition, food preparation and local plant knowledge

Exceeded 50 women have received training on nutrition, food preparation and 500 more in local plant knowledge

Monthly healthy-‐‑cooking classes using local ingredients and led by local health promoters for all 300 participants

Complete 300 participants take part in �

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