Food Security Guatemala Project #49703

Planting the seeds of a better future in Guatemala

by Basaid Organisation

Project Report | Aug 3, 2021
Planting the seeds of a better future / update Q2

By Hans Barz | Project Leader

The direct beneficiaries of the project are 300 families (1,500 people) from 13 women's groups
organized in 12 communities in three municipalities: Nentón, San Antonio Huista and Petatán
in northwestern Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

To date the following below mentioned activities of the project have been carried out.

1. Organizational Strengthening 13 community and group meetings were held to promote and raise awareness of the project (1
with each of the 13 groups) in 12 communities in the municipalities of Nentón, San Antonio
Huista and Petatán; the purpose of these meetings was to inform the 300 families of the
benefits they would be receiving under the project and to get their commitments for the
project.

2. Workshops> The workshop on Agro ecology scheduled to be held in the first months of project
implementation could not be held due to the upturn of the pandemic in the Huista region, it
has been rescheduled later this year, provided that the situation improves.

3. Distribution of Crops and Technical Assistance> The purchase of local native and creole corn and bean seeds was carried out and distributed to each groups, taking advantage of the starting rainy season. Each of the group members carried out the preparation (cleaning or stubble burning) of their available land.

During the next months pending activities such as the planting of medicinal plants, fruit trees
and the delivery of chickens will be carried out.

Attachments:

Project report Q2, 2021 (PDF)

1 Attachment

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Mar 31, 2021
Planting the seeds for a better future report

By Hans Barz | Basaid project leader

Our project partners in Huista (Department Huehutenango, Guatemala) were very happy when they learnt about the successful fundraising campaign via GlobalGiving in December. The head of our partner organization ADSOSMHU, Rubén López Herrera - right in below picture - sends his thanks to all donors and guarantees that they are eager to start and implement project goals.

The project is located in Huista with main town San Antonio de Huista close to the Southern-east border to Mexico with a median altitude 1,260 meter over sea level. The main goal of this project is to plant seeds to provide food for the poorest Mayan families in the region - i.e. income less than 2$/day. An additional objective is to teach them how to best treat the plants using biological treatment methods, the use of herbs for natural medicines, selection and preservation of seeds for the next planting period and to organize workshops on reproductive health.

The dry season in this area starts in December and lasts until April. The rainy season begins in May with the heaviest rainfalls typically in October. Mayan agriculture in addition is governed by a sacred ancient calendar with the name Chol Q’ij (Kiche dialect) therefore planting will start in June with results seen three months later. Since this region is also part of the dry corridor in Central America the project will be managed in order to have the lowest risks for the seeds.

Currently, a series of activities are ongoing including the family selection and teachers who will run the training. All training will be in San Antonio and the participants will be taken to town by bus. The participants’ selection is done together with local groups in ten villages in the Huista region. Below is a picture from a meeting of one such local group. Each group proposes the members that should be part of the project. In addition, other members of the organization select the best local seeds (corn, beans, herbs), trees (lemon criollo, orange) and native birds (chompipollos) in order to be ready when planting starts.

Attachments:

Planting the seeds for a better future report 1 (PDF)

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