Jucuapa Occidental is a community of subsistence farmers who practice traditional agriculture on steep mountain terrain. They´re excellent producers but if there´s a bad season like last year when tropical rain storms destroyed many bean crops it means next year finances are tight. In rural Nicaragua that means kids can´t go to school because the family can´t afford the bus fare or there´s no money to buy medicine. In addition, there´s no access to credit so the families can´t always find alternatives. In other words, the usual circumstances that make it hard to earn a living as a farmer - being at the mercy of the weather, geographical and social isolation from cities - are much worse in Nicaragua than in the U.S.
Government aid money is nearly non-existent but fortunately there is a government organization, INTA, that sends field technicians out to develop communities like mine. INTA and Peace Corps Nicaragua have partnered up, so this is where I come in. INTA technicians bring projects such as introducing improved seed varieties, soil and forestry management techniques, crop diversification and animal husbandry. I collaborate with INTA to make these projects successful. Also, since I live in the community I can identify and organize any other needs people have and create my own projects. There are also other organizations such as the Center for Tropical Agronomy, and National Union of Agriculture Producers and Ranchers who do lots of cool projects. There is definitely not a lack of motivated Nicaraguans to work with and for this reason I´m always optimistic.
For sure, a lot of times the work is frustrating and I´ve had my share of failures and awkard moments but I know they weren´t in vain because the Nicaraguans recognized that someone cared enough to try. And for someone living in their small rocky corner of the world trying to get by everyday, it means a hell of a lot.
Next Post: What do you do when it´s the tomato harvest and you have hundreds of pounds of tomatoes to preserve? Make KETCHUP!
