Growing Through Technology
Leveraging AgTech to promote prosperity in Guatemala
Jorge Xivir, a 29-year-old Guatemalan farmer, walks between rows of healthy tomato plants, stopping to admire and tend to them. Like many farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, Jorge, who aspires to become an agronomist, is passionate about his family’s farm, confident that their hard work will be the foundation for a brighter future for themselves and their community.
However, a lack of economic and educational opportunities, compounded by chronic malnutrition, have many farmers struggling to make ends meet and can drive them to make the dangerous decision to migrate north to the United States.
USAID, through the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future Initiative, is working with farmers like Jorge in more than 2,500 communities in Guatemala’s Western Highlands that suffer from the highest rates of poverty and chronic malnutrition, yet show great potential to reverse those trends.
To help expand opportunities for Guatemalans at home, USAID and Agropecuaria Popoyan, a Guatemalan agribusiness, have joined forces through a public-private partnership. Together, they designed, constructed, and equipped the Modern Agriculture Center for Prosperity and Opportunity (CAMPO) to offer training to small-scale farmers — including many who are returned migrants — on modern agricultural practices that improve crop production, increase incomes, and create market linkages, creating stronger more resilient communities.
Small scale farmers play an important role in the Guatemalan economy, as agriculture is a major driver. When Jorge first became a farmer he learned the trade from fellow community members, but lacked access to modern farming practices to boost the land’s productivity.
“A lack of economic opportunity is one of the strongest drivers of out-migration from Huehuetenango, a department in Guatemala that was also hit hard by the recent hurricanes and exhibits some of the highest levels of chronic malnutrition in the country. Through CAMPO, USAID is helping Guatemalans increase their earning potential by introducing the latest farming techniques and linking them to markets to sell their crops — making them more economically resilient, and less likely to migrate or re-migrate,” explained USAID/Guatemala Mission Director Anu Rajaraman.
CAMPO, which was inaugurated this past February, does not seek to supplant a community’s traditional farming customs, rather to complement them with innovation, generating sustainable development. The modern, 60,000-square-foot center located in Chiantla, Huehuetenango, combines traditional classroom work with hands-on experience in 10 greenhouses. Here farmers observe, learn, and have practical engagement with other producers and technical experts in their community, empowering them to seek a sustainable future in agriculture.
Rajaraman also noted the center’s focus on promoting an inclusive environment in agriculture, which is a sector traditionally dominated by men. “We are broadening opportunities for both men and women to build successful livelihoods and provide for their families,” she said.
Complementing CAMPO’s agriculture and inclusion services is a financial aid office that provides farmers’ advice and access to credit. With this new credit, farmers can buy more seeds, farming equipment, and other resources that can help them improve their farms and grow their incomes
By the end of 2022, CAMPO Chiantla could benefit as many as 36,500 producers and their families, providing innovative solutions that allow for sustainable development, increasing sales and creating new jobs. For farmers like Jorge, CAMPO is an opportunity to improve their financial futures in their home country. The center’s trainings provided Jorge with valuable skills and advice on how to better increase crop production; as a result he is planning to expand his greenhouse to grow more tomatoes.
“As a producer I needed a mentor to motivate me, to guide me in solving the challenges I faced in the field. When you start farming, you know almost nothing, you learn some skills from your family and friends, but CAMPO builds on this traditional knowledge and makes me want to learn more to improve my crops.” — Jorge Xivir
About the Author
Benjamin Ilka is a storyteller and visual media specialist at USAID’s Mission in Guatemala.
USAID’s Feed the Future Guatemala Innovative Solutions for Agricultural Value Chains Project (PRO-INNOVA) implemented by Agropecuaria Popoyán, S.A., is a five-year, $36 million project to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, the region with the highest levels of migration to the United States. The project focuses on the promotion of agricultural technologies, crop diversification, climate-smart agricultural practices, public-private partnerships, access to markets, diet diversification and household hygiene, and institutional strengthening in agriculture and food security.
