2013 Mid-Year Food Security Reports - Coffee Kids...in Tabaconas, Peru. Program Partner: The Tabaconas Valley Organic Producers Association (APROVAT) Program Area: Food Security

2013 Mid-Year Food Security Reports

Food Security through Pig RearingPartner: The Tabaconas Valley Organic Producers Association (APROVAT).............................................. 1

Productive Investment in Food Security (Stage One: Rainwater Harvesting)Partner: The Association of Rural Development and the Environment (DERMAC).................................... 7

Community Participation in Food Security (Stage Two)Partner: San Juan Colorado Sustainable Development Council (CDS)................................................... 14

Agricultural Innovation through Heritage Seeds and PracticesPartner: The Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ )................................................................ 21

Productive Investment in Coffee (Stage Two)Partner: The Association for Agroecological Development in Coffee (VIDA).......................................... 29

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•www.coffeekids.org•

2013 Mid-Year Report

Project: Food Security through Pig Rearing

Partner: The Tabaconas Valley Organic Producers Association (APROVAT)

Program Area: Food Security

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information pertaining to this

Coffee Kids project

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Food Security through Pig Rearingin Tabaconas, Peru

Program Partner: The Tabaconas Valley Organic Producers Association (APROVAT)Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 152 women from 12 communities; 600 beneficiariesProject Duration: January 2013 – December 2013

• Establishes one community-run demonstrative pig stall for training, implementation of new technologies, and meat production for household and market

• Provides the startup cost for 50 small-scale household pens (some of which will be shared between households)

• Participants are trained in pig rearing and receive technical and educational support in pig rearing and breeding

• As the pigs reproduce, piglets will be passed on to new families so that they can establish their own household pens

The increased availability of meat through the rearing of domesticated pigs will not only help families better meet their nutritional needs but will provide supplementary income as surplus meat is sold.

Founded: 1997

Coffee Kids partner since: 2009

Successes since working with Coffee Kids:

• The community grocery store established in 2010 continues to supply valuable income and nutritious food to the APROVAT community.

• 2011 – 12 has seen the growth of APROVAT’s microcredit and savings program, made possible through the support of Coffee Kids.

The Project

The Partner

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Goal #1: Provide support in the negotiation with local authorities for necessary permits

Goal #2: Strengthen teamwork among project participants so that they are better able to support the efforts of APROVAT’s directors and management staff

Goal #3: Develop the administrative capacity of other APROVAT staff members

The organization currently relies too much on one person to guide and administer the projects, and this person currently has health problems. We are working to further develop key skills among potential lead-ers within APROVAT.

APROVAT shows great potential and is well organized, despite over reliance on a single individual. We plan to incorporate them into our Organizational Strengthening series as trainers.

• Local diets still lack sufficient protein. Integration of animal protein production in the family farm shows strate-gic potential for reducing malnutrition while also generating income from the sale of surplus meat.

• Pig rearing was chosen as pigs are easy to keep and rear and are a good source of both protein and animal fat. Furthermore, there is a strong local preference for pork, so surplus meat will easily find a market. However, people don’t tend to raise pigs because they are thought of as dirty. The project focuses on sanitary means of raising pigs to debunk the myth of the pig as a dirty animal. Project coordinators see potential to expand the project in coming years.

• The breeds chosen for this project have a good feed-input to protein-output ratio and, unlike much other live-stock, can subsist primarily on organic waste from the kitchen garden and kitchen table and secondary waste from agricultural production. Thus the cost of care is reduced compared to other domesticated animals.

Capacity Building Goals & Challenges

The Need

The Results

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Schedule of Activities:

Objective

(description)

Activity Scheduled Current

Status

Project implementation Construction of demonstrative pig stall January – February 2013

Complete March 2013 *

50 household-based stalls established January – December 2013

Altered

(see below)

Purchase of dietary supplements for pigs and a first aid veterinary kit

January – February 2013


54 piglets (2.5 months old) acquired: these will be used for the production of meat and for reproduction

February – March 2013


Educational exchange and training for pro-moters

March 2013 Complete March 2013

Training for 152 women participating in the project (9 workshops in total throughout the year)

January – October 2013

Ongoing Started April 2013

Project follow-up Technical assistance through regularly sched-uled visits by technicians

January – December 2013

Ongoing Started April 2013

Distribution of new piglets to new project participants

2014 On Schedule

* The schedule is nearly back on track after a delayed transfer of funds

Achievements:

• 45 participants will start their own pens (note: original number of pigs to be distributed – 55 – stays the same, but the original estimate of 50 pens has been reduced to 45 due to budget recalculations).

• 1 community-run model pig stall established: The model stall measures 130 meters² and consists of 10 compart-ments. Nine will serve as nurseries for piglets and are equipped with automatic feeders and water fountains. The final compartment will be used to store supplies and feed. The model stall is built with sufficient drainage, electricity and tanks for water storage and wastewater.

• As of the month of April, 25 individual models have been built, measuring 8 meters² each, made in part with locally sourced materials (wood and palm) and equipped with water and drainage tanks and two automatic watering systems.

• 55 sows and 2 boars were bought and transferred from Jaén (some 44 hours traveling distance from the center of Tamborapa Pueblo, Tabaconas, where the model pens are located).

• 20 women signed agreements to receive 20 piglets: terms include that one resulting piglet will be passed on to another family.

• 46 families have begun training in pig rearing and management.

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Additional Outcomes:

• Thanks to this project, participating families have increased their social and participative commitment, accord-ing to project coordinators.

• This project has succeeded in gaining the interest and participation of the local authorities who have helped participating families procure the necessary sanitary permits for the family-run pigpens. This is a significant achievement as it safeguards against encountering unexpected problems.

• The communally run model stall is a demonstration center for training and genetic improvement, encouraging innovations in livestock management to be gestated locally.

Name: : Vilma Yajamanco ContrerasCommunity: Pueblo NuevoAge: 49

I really appreciate being part of this project that we’re developing with the help of APROVAT and Coffee Kids. Thanks to [my involvement], I’ll soon be able to increase my family’s income. My plan is to sell a portion of the meat I produce and use the other part to improve my family’s nutrition.

At the start of the project, all the participants took an oath to take care of the piglet that we receive so that when the pig is grown, we can gift its piglets to other participants – the same way we received ours. In this way, new families can benefit too.

Name: Carmen Elena Vargas RiveraCommunity: Pueblo NuevoAge: 47

I also participate in the gardening project, which was developed through a partnership between APROVAT and Coffee Kids. This project helps me a lot, because I’ve used a lot of the waste from the garden to help me prepare compost, and I can [now] use the other part to feed my pig.

Before this project I didn’t know anything about raising pigs, but I feel really motivated and I know I’m learning a lot. I’ve put a lot of energy into building my stall with the best materials I can find. I’m convinced it’s going to be a really successful project. I want to thank everyone at Coffee Kids and the donors for helping the women of Valle de Tabaconas eat better and improve their income, every day, little by little.

Name: Julia Cruz QuevedoCommunity: Tamborapa PuebloAge: 42

I’ve started to take care of my piglet, following all of the recommendations that the technician gave us. I really think that this project is going to help me feed my family better and, also, help me earn extra income. I plan to go out and

The People Making it Work

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sell my pork when it’s time to slaughter the animal. I’m excited to think that one day my earnings will allow me to build on to my stall, so that I’ll have lots of pigs that I’m rearing all the time.

I am very thankful for this project that is happening because of APROVAT and Coffee Kids and for the support that they are bringing us hardworking women of the Tabaconas district.

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Project: Productive Investment in Food Security (Stage One: Rainwater Harvesting)

Partner: The Association of Rural Development and the Environment (DERMAC)


July 26, 2013


Coffee Kids project

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Productive Investment in Food Security (Stage One: Rainwater Harvesting)

in Chiapas, Mexico

Program Partner: The Association of Rural Development and the Environment (DERMAC)Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 28 families from 1 community; 190 beneficiariesProject Duration: January 2013 – December 2013

• Improves nutrition and well-being and reduces spending by helping participants grow their own fresh, healthy produce year-round

• Advances environmental protection through the implementation of agroecological practices for the management of vegetable gardens, treatment of diseases and organic fertilizer production

• Ensures project sustainability through the construction of a series of water reservoirs, enough to store about 40,000 liters of water, allowing participants to harvest rain during the wet season and store it for use during the dry months

• Strengthens a spirit of cooperation, mutual assistance and knowledge sharing in the community, as participants first work as a team to create a model garden and then help each other in creating individual backyard gardens

This project is the first of three stages that will increase access to water during drought by building water systems to collect rainwater for consumption and for producing fresh vegetables. Funding for stages 2 – 3 of the project will be provided by other sources.

In this first stage, the project will provide 4 months’ water supply to 28 families. Water will serve for domestic purposes and for watering 20 vegetable gardens that will produce 6 – 8 species of vegetables.

Founded: 2007


About DERMAC:

DERMAC is committed to social, economic and environmental development and improving living conditions in the indigenous and rural regions in which they work. The organization focuses on making current methods of agricul-ture and forestry compatible with natural resource conservation while simultaneously improving rural economies and the social environment.

The Project

The Partner

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DERMAC and its staff are quite young, due to the fact that the founders sought to create an organization where newly graduated university students could apply skills gained through their education.


• 2011 – 2012: DERMAC collaborated with Coffee Kids on a dry latrine project in the community of Emilio Rabasa. Soon after the project started, DERMAC staff realized that the community could not offer guaran-tees to make this project sustainable. DERMAC thus decided to transfer the project to the community of Lázaro Cardenas, where it successfully installed 12 dry ecological latrines.

• 2012 – present: The current DERMAC project is in the first of three stages and aims to increase the food se-curity in Lázaro Cárdenas and in neighboring com-munities.

Goal #1: Improve capacities in monitoring, evaluation and communication of impact

Coffee Kids has supported DERMAC over the past few years in improving project monitoring and evalu-ation and storytelling. For example, during the most recent visit to the project, Coffee Kids carried out 4 interviews with participants, offered instruction on how to take meaningful photographs, and then ad-vised DERMAC on how to put these components together to demonstrate project impact. This training is of value not just to Coffee Kids but also to DERMAC, as they are now better able to communicate positive impact to potential donors and within the communities themselves.

Goal #2: Improve relationship building and project methodology

As part of our capacity building methodology, Coffee Kids commits to an initial 3-year relationship-building stage in order to establish trust, open communication and well-planned projects based on community input and goals. Despite DERMAC’s successful project implementation over the past 3 years, Coffee Kids has experienced repeated difficulties in maintaining open communication with the organization, and we have found that DERMAC’s methodology deviates from Coffee Kids’ in that they do not put the same emphasis on community input and shared decision making. Coffee Kids has, thus, decided to postpone partnership for the time being. We have, nonetheless, confirmed that due to their location within a protected natural area, communities participating in the current project have the option to request funding from a variety of sources, including government institutions, to continue with stages 2 and 3.

• 18% of households in Lázaro Cárdenas have no access to clean water in or near their homes.

• Residents struggle to maintain vegetable gardens, especially during the dry season (April through June). If resi-dents were able to grow gardens, they would have enough vegetables for the whole year.

• Local families spend 30% more than the average Mexican family on food annually due to the distance the food must travel to reach the community. Despite paying higher prices, this food is often of low quality.

The Need


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Objective (description)

Activity Scheduled Current Status

Increase availability of water in the community

Build rain harvest systems that will store at least 40,000 liters of water

April – May 2013 Ongoing

Partially delayed until July – September*

Leveling of the terrain on which systems will be built has been completed

The Results10

Participants produce fresh and nutritious produce year-round

A 140-square-meter model vegetable garden established through teamwork

May 2013 Complete

24 vegetable gardens established, benefiting 144 people

May 2013 Rescheduled

Delayed until July due to inclement weather*

Six to eight different kinds of vegetables harvested for home consumption

August 2013 On schedule

Promote agroecological and organic techniques among project participants

Two workshops on treatment of diseases using organic methods with 40 participants

April, August 2013 Ongoing

One workshop completed, August workshop is on schedule

*Some project activities were rescheduled due to a brief delay in the dispensation of funds combined with unseasonable temperatures and irregular rain patterns brought on by climate change.

Achievements:

• More than 40 people attended a workshop on the treatment of diseases that commonly affect backyard veg-etable gardens.

• Working as a team, participants have established one model vegetable garden measuring 140 square meters and boasting a variety of plants, including onions, cilantro, tomatoes, beans, squash and herbs.

• In order to ensure project sustainability, DERMAC produced a legal document outlining project rules, responsi-bilities and repercussions for noncompliance, which each participant has now signed.


• Women have become increasingly more involved in trainings, as evidenced by the 10 women who participated in the workshop on treatment of diseases. Where women initially passively attended meetings with their hus-bands, they have begun to organize themselves, which is a significant advancement.

• Thanks to the current project, DERMAC has been connected with other organizations and potential funding sources that focus on environmental conservation and will begin to expand the successful dry latrine project in the community.

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Name: Ramón Vera Rodríguez Age: 68

Before joining the project, don Ramón did not believe in team projects, owing to previous negative experiences with community collaboration in which some people worked harder than others. However, after participating in this project, he says he has come to realize that teamwork can be effective when there is adequate plan-ning and participants are genuinely interested in gaining practical knowledge. According to don Ramón, “For me, the biggest change that I’ve seen since I joined this project is in my own way of think-ing. In the beginning, I didn’t believe in teamwork, and I thought my family nutrition was poor because we didn’t have enough money to buy quality food. Now I see everything differently, and I believe that things will be better in the future.”

Currently, don Ramón is one of the most active project participants and his interest and enthusiasm for growing his own food is contagious: “I work hard on behalf of my family, and I want fellow community members to see that this is something they can do as well, with positive results.”

Name: José Gálvez Cruz Age: 51

Don José is a natural leader who truly believes in teamwork. “Since we began to organize into a work team, I’ve seen that we can learn different things from each other. Thanks to the dry latrine project last year, I received training that helped me improve sanitation in my home. Now we are continuing our work together and will be growing our own food.”

Don José has assisted project participants in forming a cooperative society that can legally sell their produce in the future. Additionally, after he helped to form work teams for the project, other people in the community began to organize into groups carrying out projects to improve their community and families. “Now that we are begin-ning to plant our vegetables, we are going to need help from all of

our work team members and their families. We believe that this project isn’t just for us, but for the whole commu-nity—especially our children.”

The People Making it Work12

Name: José Reynol López Ruiz Age: 47

José Reynol and his family (four children and his wife) have been working as a team for years: “We have always helped each other because it’s the only way to get ahead.” Thus, don José was one of the first people to support the idea of project work teams, believ-ing that participants would achieve more working together as a group than individually.

“A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed that I would have such a great bathroom [latrine project 2011 – 2012]—and now I can hardly believe that I will have fresh vegetables from a garden. It’s a privilege to be involved in this project, and I hope that other people in the community will realize just how much can be ac-complished working as a team.”

Don José believes that the project will improve the economic and nutritional well-being of his family: “We used to have to go to another town to buy vegetables, which took time and money. But now we can invest this money and time into producing our own food.”

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Project: Community Participation in Food Security (Stage Two)

Partner: San Juan Colorado Sustainable Development Council (CDS)


July 26, 2013


Coffee Kids project

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Community Participation in Food Security (Stage Two)in San Juan Colorado, Oaxaca, Mexico

Program Partner: San Juan Colorado Sustainable Development Council (CDS)Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 30 families from 1 community; 180 beneficiariesProject Duration: January 2013 – December 2013

• Fosters sustainable agriculture in the community of Nuevo Progreso and strengthens the existing subsistence farming system

• Promotes the production of traditional foods with good nutritional value (such as maize, squash, beans, radishes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and chilies)

• Provides training in agroecological practices (e.g., worm compost, live erosion barriers, water-retaining trenches, diversified vegetable production) that improve yields while maintaining soil fertility and preventing erosion

• Spreads new agricultural knowledge and practices through farmer-to-farmer training

• Formalizes and improves the small-scale savings program that already exists (a rural savings group) into a microcredit and savings group

This project is stage two of CDS’s Community Participation in Food Security project (initiated in 2012). The project continues to work with 2012’s project participants (100 families) while adding an additional 30 families to increase the reach of the project.

Founded: 2013


About CDS:

In 2013, Coffee Kids’ partner Everything as Indigenous People (TCPI) reorganized under the name San Juan Colorado Sustainable Development Council (CDS). Although legally a new entity, CDS is directly descended from TCPI, works in the same coffee-growing community of Nuevo Progreso, and has adopted the same mission of promoting social, political, environmental and cultural transformation initiatives in the region. Along with the project coordinators, the original TCPI members participating in Stage One and Stage Two of this project have moved en masse to become part of the CDS project to strengthen subsistence farming.

The Project

The Partner

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• 2011: Coffee Kids began working with the organization TCPI on the Community Participation in Food Security project. The project improved the food security of 100 families from Nuevo Progreso, teaching techniques in organic cultivation of vegetables and disease prevention and treatment and developed a feasibility study for a corozo nut soap-making project to bolster the local economy. Although TCPI no longer exists, most of the par-ticipants have continued working with the new organization, CDS.

• 2013: CDS successfully incorporated as an NGO under Mexican tax law, which creates pathways to better fiscal planning, opens new potential funding streams, and improves their position and credibility within their com-munities, both local and international.

Goal #1: Formalization of NGO status according to Mexican tax law

Mexican tax law can be very confusing and CDS encountered difficulties in formalizing their status as an NGO in Mexico. Coffee Kids provided CDS with resources and advice to assist them in this endeavor, connecting them with reputable tax lawyers in Mexico who were able to guide CDS through the process of becoming a recognized NGO. Furthermore, three representatives from CDS participated in Coffee Kids’ Building Administrative Capacities workshop in July 2012. The training and knowledge exchange with other Mexican organizations during the event contributed greatly to their eventual success.

Goal#2:Fundingstreamdiversification

CDS seeks to diversify their funding stream so as to eliminate over-reliance on Coffee Kids and further ex-pand their project catalog. Coffee Kids has assisted in this endeavor by facilitating connections between CDS and other local and international NGOs.

Goal #3: Improve capacities in microcredit and savings management

TCPI/CDS intended to initiate a microcredit project from the moment they began working with Coffee Kids. Although a basic rural savings fund has been established, the group lacks the experience and knowledge of appropriate structures needed to formalize the nascent project into a well-functioning microcredit and savings group. This year, Coffee Kids has helped CDS to receive training from our partner AUGE, whose successful Women Saving in Solidarity (GMAS) and Kids Saving in Solidarity (GNAS) groups have, over the past 15 years, grown to reach 2,500 women and 733 young people within Veracruz, Mexico. CDS will continue to collaborate with AUGE to define a model, rules/standards, and purpose that will work best in the community of Nuevo Progreso.


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• Current agricultural practices in the region have slowly made the land less productive and the water more pol-luted.

• People are harvesting fewer vegetables than in the past due to a lack of awareness about practices that ensure proper land management and maintain or increase fertility.

• Traditional staple foods such as maize and vegetables (e.g., squash, beans, tomatoes and lettuce) have been slowly replaced by industrialized products with little or no nutritional value, aggravating undernutrition among the population.

• People in the region have little or no knowledge of strategies for saving money or of mid- to long-term financial planning.

The Results

The Need

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Objective (description)


Improve technical capacities and strengthen farming methods in order to increase food yields

3 agroecological practices and land fertility workshops

February – May 2013

Ongoing

2 workshops have taken place (March and April) with the third one expected to take place in June

1 workshop on organic vegetable gardening

February 2013 Complete

30 participants attended the 2-day workshop on organic vegetable gardening

4 sustainable-agriculture workshops

March – November 2013

Ongoing

Currently 10 participants are attending the series of 4 workshops in sustainable agriculture; 3 workshops have been completed at the time of this report

Promote the production of local staple foods such as maize and backyard vegetables (e.g., squash, radishes, beans, lettuce and tomatoes)

13 new vegetable gardens set up

February 2013 Rescheduled*

Expected end of May/early June.

14 producers selected1 to receive irrigation equipment

January 2013 Complete

14 participants have been identified

14 irrigation systems set up in 14 maize plots

February – March 2013

Rescheduled*

Expected in late May/early June

18 established vegetable producers train 18 new vegetable producers

February – December 2013

Ongoing

2 producers have started training, with 5 families receiving training

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Formalize the existing savings groups and investigate the possibility of developing microcredit opportunities

10 participants attend 1 savings and microcredit workshop in collaboration with a CK partner organization (AUGE)

December 2013 On Schedule

Scheduled to take place in September 2013

* A delay in the arrival of funds due, in part, to CDS’s formalization process delayed some stages of this project.

Achievements:

• 5 workshops took place with a total of 30 producers attending.

• 10 producers have attended 3 of the 4 sustainable-agriculture workshop modules.

• 2 established vegetable producers are training 5 new vegetable producers.

• 14 maize plots were identified to receive an irrigation system.

• 2 producers received training in farmer-to-farmer teaching techniques and trained 5 families in organic veg-etable cultivation.


• 14 more people (not belonging to the project) attended the workshop on organic vegetable gardening with the promise that they would set up their own vegetable garden at the end of the workshop.

• Setting up the vegetable gardens has been delayed by 3 months due to a delay in the arrival of funds. In addition, because of road closures, the material for the vegetable gardens arrived a month later than expected.

Name: Robert Hernández Hera Age: 23

“The most important change that I’ve seen since starting this project is that I don’t buy my vegetables at the market anymore. Bit by bit, my diet is improving because I’m eating more vegeta-bles now. I didn’t eat them before because I didn’t have enough money to buy them.

“One of the most interesting things I’ve learned in the work-shops is how to prepare the soil for planting. Placing a piece of black plastic over the soil kills all the weeds and microorgan-isms in the soil that can harm a plant. I have also learned how to combat diseases and pests with natural pesticides (e.g., Bor-deaux broth).


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“Other community members that didn’t want to participate in this project see our successful gardens and are now showing interest in starting their own. I think this is great because they are beginning to show interest on their own, rather than these ideas being imposed upon them.”

Name: Camerino Heras MoralesAge: 62

“My diet has improved since I started my garden. Before this, my wife had to travel 2 hours to buy our vegetables. The trip alone cost her $5 USD, and the only available vegetables were expensive and not very fresh. But now that we have our own garden, we’re saving that $5 and using it on other house-hold expenses. The best part of all of this is that I can step out of my house and pick my vegetables—I wouldn’t be able to find vegetables this fresh at any market.

“My family is becoming more and more interested in this project because they see how much time and effort I put into growing these vegetables. Plus they all really like to eat fresh vegetables—who doesn’t?”

“In 2 years, I hope to be growing more than enough vegeta-bles for my family. My plan is to sell the extra vegetables and then buy a mule to help me with my work in the countryside.”

Name: Teodora Carrasco Maldonado Age: 35

“What I love about this project is that I can grow what I like to eat! I believe all humans have the right to grow their own food, but when one can choose what they want to grow, well, that’s a bit better.

“Learning how to grow was a little bit difficult in the begin-ning, because my parents never taught me how to grow my own food. I was always in the kitchen cooking and I never liked the idea of getting my hands dirty. But now, I love the smell of moist soil.

“If I hadn’t signed up for this project, I would not have had the opportunity to learn and see firsthand how a radish grows—from a seed until the point that it is ready to be har-vested. I would probably have never grown anything. This year I can save around $40 USD since I don’t have to buy

radishes in the market (my family loves radishes and we eat them almost every day). With the money I save, I’m able to buy the medicine that my grandmother needs.”

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Project: Agricultural Innovation through Heritage Seeds and Practices

Partner: The Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ )


July 26, 2013


Coffee Kids project

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Agricultural Innovation through Heritage Seeds and Practicesin Veracruz, Mexico

Program Partner: The Advice and Rural Services Center (ASER MAIZ )Program Area: Food Security Project Participants: 75 women, 35 men and 67 boys and girls from 100 families in 7 communitiesProject Duration: January 2013 – December 2013

•Bolsters rural food security by recuperating and protecting native seeds that have served as a food source for many decades

•Advances organic techniques of production and ensures more efficientuse of land and water through educational and strategic activities

•Promotes long-term sustainability by compiling and documenting traditional forms of milpa* (crop-growing system) production in order to create a collection of seeds better adapted to the region

The Agricultural Innovation through Heritage Seeds and Practices project continues the efforts of ASER MAIZ for rural food security and joins Mexico’s Sin Maíz no Hay País1 (Without Corn there is no Country) campaign in promoting heirloom varietals as crucial to maintaining genetic diversity in the country’s corn production.

*Milpa is the subsistence agricultural system upon which rural populations throughout Mesoamerica have subsisted for hun-dreds if not thousands of years. At the heart of the milpa triad lies corn, which is intercropped with squash and beans.

Founded: 1996


About ASER MAIZ:

ASER MAIZ promotes community development by improving the economic, social and political conditions within rural com-munities in Veracruz, Mexico. The organization seeks to build the capacities of rural families in the areas of sustainable agri-culture, food security, development and organizational skills and help them to more effectively demand public services from the government.

1 www.sinmaiznohaypais.org

The Project

The Partner

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• 2010: The Participative Integrated Health project continues to improve access to local health care for 9 indig-enous Totonaca communities. The project takes advantage of local knowledge of medicinal plants to ameliorate the lack of health services while at the same time addressing issues of food security through the cultivation of native species, which are better adapted and resistant to disease and blight.

• 2011: The Comprehensive Health and Nutrition project built the foundations of the current project by help-ing nearly 100 participants diversify their production and consumption of food and by introducing beekeep-ing as a means of supplementary nutrition and income. The current project builds upon these previous projects and takes a multidimensional approach to health and nutrition as a response to current regional health and food security issues.

Goal#1:DevelopthecapacitiesofASERMAIZstafftobettermonitorandcontrolfinancialperformance

ASER MAIZ attended Coffee Kids’ Construction of Administrative Capacities workshop in 2012 and learned about methodologies and practices for the monitoring and control of their accounting and tax administration. Since this workshop, ASER MAIZ has made progress in applying the tools necessary to bettertracktheirfinancialperformance.

Goal#2:EnhanceASERMAIZ’sabilitytoaddressexternalchallengesinorganizationalefficiencyandproject sustainability

In recent years, the Mexican government has constructed a number of dams to provide urban areas with water. This has put the livelihoods of people from the Totonacapan region of Veracruz in jeopardy since they rely on rivers fed from mountain runoff as their primary water supply. In addition to facing this sig-nificantwaterchallenge,ASERMAIZandthecommunitieswithwhomtheyworkarealsodealingwithunseasonable temperatures and irregular rain patterns brought on by climate change. ASER MAIZ staff have a deep understanding of these external challenges and are utilizing Coffee Kids’ funds, in part, to implement educational and strategic activities with project participants in the short term (e.g., workshops on water conservation and drought management and the planting of fruit and timber trees to prevent run-off and encourage water retention). However, initiatives that would enable the organization to address the issues in the long term, with outreach to the wider region, (e.g. large-scale rainwater harvesting initia-tives) are currently too costly to implement. Coffee Kids is in discussion with ASER MAIZ about potential solutions.

• Communities served by ASER MAIZ are facing the loss of traditional agricultural practices, water scarcity and increasing pollution. These factors contribute to the loss of corn varieties resistant to disease and pose new risks, even for traditional varieties.

• Mexico’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: more than 20 millionMexicancitizensfindthemselveswithinadequateaccesstofood,2 a number that has increased since

2 Source:2010.MileneoOnlinefromFAO/Sagarpafigures.puebla.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9044085


The Need

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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% 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

• Many people in the region have stopped employing the agricultural practices their parents or grandparents once taught them, and in many cases have lost access to native seeds (corn, beans, squash and so on) that both growwellintheirspecificclimateandaremorediseaseresistantthancommercialcorn.Furthermore,climatechange poses additional challenges, and new genetic diversity will enhance the adaptability of existing heritage varietals.

3 Source: 2010. National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL)4 Source:2011.MapaCartográficodelObservatorioenSeguridadAlimentariadelEstadodeVeracruz.UniversidaddeVeracruz (most recent statistics from 2005)

The Results

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Objective (description) Activity Scheduled Current Status

Promote food sovereignty through a participatory community model of organic, sustainable agriculture

4 workshops on the production of organic fertilizer

February – April 2013 Ongoing

2 workshops completed

4 workshops on the integrated treatment of diseases

March & September 2013

Ongoing

1 workshop completed

Establish 10 model gardens

February – September 2013

Ongoing

4 model gardens created

Strengthen milpa agriculture (traditional crop-growing system) as both an agriculturally integrated unit as well as a source of healthy food while promoting cultivation of native corn as a food sovereignty defense strategy

Document the existing practices and the products of the milpa system

April & September 2013

Ongoing

1 nutrition and health workshop featuring milpa produce and amaranth

June 2013 On Schedule

Scheduled for June

Promote environmental education and water conservation as core food sovereignty concepts

2 environmental education and water conservation workshops for children

February & April 2013 Exceeded

3 workshops completed (2 on environmental education and 1 about the water cycle)

Promote the planting of fruit and timber trees in 5 communities

March & June 2013 Rescheduled

Delayed until June due to weather*

Celebration of World Water Day with a forum for children, adolescents and adults

March 2013 Completed

221 participants attended the forum

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Promote backyard and rooftop vegetable gardens

Host 3 training workshops to establish rooftop vegetable gardens

March – June 2013 Ongoing

2 training workshops completed

Establish backyard vegetable gardens with 20 families

February – June 2013 Rescheduled

Delayed until May 2013 due to weather*

* Participants faced unseasonable temperatures and irregular rainfall this year. Seedlings developed later than normal due to an unusually cold winter and spring and, unlike previous years, there were drought-like conditions resulting from late rainfall.

Achievements:

• 51 women and 4 men attended 2 organic fertilizer workshops in 2 communities. 200 liters of organic fertilizer were prepared for future application.

• 30 women and 7 men attended an agricultural disease-identification and management workshop. Participants identified2diseasesandproceededtomonitor themundertheguidanceof theworkshopspecialist.Subse-quently, 3 tours of 5 plots have taken place in order to detect, assess and manage disease.

• 57 women and 8 men attended a hands-on workshop about different corn varieties hosted in the Corn Center in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Participants visited plots with different varieties of corn and learned about the attributes of each variety.

• 46 children in 2 communities participated in 3 workshops: 2 about environmental education and 1 about the water cycle.

• 221 participants(63menand158women)from18communitiesintheregionattended a water rights and food sovereignty forum held on World Water Day 2013.

• 24 women and 10 men attended 2 urban vegetable garden workshops: 1 for those planting in containers and the other for those growing on rooftop terraces.


• Closeto80%ofparticipantshavetakenpartinoneormoreprojectactivities,exceedingASERMAIZ’sexpecta-tions.Thissignificantimprovementonparticipationratesfrompreviousprojectsreflectsagrowinginterestintheproject, greater community investment in ASER MAIZ and bodes well for long-term sustainability.

• People in the communities where the food security project is taking place are gaining interest in recovering their traditional agricultural practices and have started exchanging seeds on their own.

• Previously unknown diseases appeared during the spring-summer harvest, decimating close to 30% of the corn intheregion.AsamplehasbeensenttoanagronomistatVeracruzUniversityforidentification.ASERMAIZandcommunities are awaiting the results in order to take immediate action.

• Unseasonalwarmanddryweatherandthelatearrivaloftherainshavetakenatollonmanyparticipants’gar-dens, as many project participants do not have reservoirs with which to water their vegetables.

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Name: Juana Vázquez Santiago Age: 53 Community: Filomeno Mata

DoñaJuanaisoriginallyfromFilomenoMata,is53yearsold,has8children and is separated from her husband. She has been a member of a women’s group in Filomeno Mata for 6 years and has been a part of the ASER MAIZ project for more than 2 years. She says, “I like what I’m learning. I’ve put into practice the things I learned in the work-shops.”

Doña Juana lost some of her animals (a pig and her turkeys) this year but was able to buy some chickens with the little bit of money she earned from selling her vegetables. However, what worries her now is the persistent lack of water: “I followed the instructions exactly for making and applying organic fertilizer and my vegetables were beauti-ful—before they dried up.” Despite the challenges that climate change is causing in the community, Doña Juana remains optimistic: “In any

case, I have to continue planting and hope that the rains come. Right now I’m going to plant chilies, tomatoes and radishes because this is the best time to grow them.”

Name: Miriam Ramos LunaAge: 20 Community: Filomeno Mata

Miriam is a 20-year-old single woman from Filomeno Mata who has been involved in this project for a little over a year. She has learned how to make natural medicines in addition to growing food after taking part in health, or-ganic fertilizer production and vegetable garden workshops.

Miriamfindstheworkshopsandknowledgegainedtobeveryuseful:“Beforethis project, I didn’t know how to grow food or produce natural medicines to treat illnesses.” She has found that the herbal medicine she produces is more effective and affordable than medicine purchased at the pharmacy.

Miriam enjoys growing her own food and began with a small vegetable patch, since she doesn’t have a lot of extra space at her house. However, she has had to start another garden from scratch after some turkeys got into her original vegetable patch and ate all her vegetables.

The People Making it Work27

Name: María Sotero Mendoza Age: 35 Community: Rancho Alegre

Doña María is from Rancho Alegre, is 35 years old and has 4 children. She has been part of the ASER MAIZ project for 3 years. According to Doña María, “Prior to this project, I had vegetables, but they didn’t grow very well. I had no idea why, but now I know! I didn’t use compost and organic fertilizer, and I didn’taddressdiseaseswhentheyappeared.Butnow,aftertheworkshopsthatI’ve attended, I know that I have to enrich my soil with organic fertilizer and dealwithdiseaseswhentheyfirstappear.”

Doña María has applied knowledge gained in project workshops to raising chickens and selling eggs, saying, “I have learned how to look after my garden and have transferred these skills to caring for my chickens.” This year, Doña María harvested an abundance of tomatoes and chard, enough to share with her mother and neighbors: “Thanks to this project, I‘ve been able to grow a lot of tomatoes and have had plenty for my family. My neighbors told me that participating in this project would be a waste of my time, but I now tell them that it’s quite the opposite—I gained a lot from the time and effort that I put in!”

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Project: Productive Investment in Coffee (Stage Two)

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

Program Area: Capacity Building


Coffee Kids project

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Productive Investment in Coffee (Stage Two)in Veracruz, Mexico

Program Partner: The Association for Agroecological Development in Coffee (VIDA)Program Area: Capacity Building Project Participants: 65 coffee producers from 3 communities, renovating 77 coffee plots; 130 beneficiary familiesProject Duration: January – December 2013

• Develops coffee farmers’ ability to manage their coffee plantations in an agroecological and sustainable manner

• Guarantees healthier crops through focus on seed selection and crop renovation

• Improves soil quality to improve crop yields

• Reduces exposure to chemical fertilizers and pesticides

• Provides participants with skills that can be used in other areas of agricultural production

Participating coffee farmers receive ongoing training in sustainable coffee cultivation particularized for their region and plot location and will undertake diagnostics regarding the composition and

status of their soil. Access to these new technologies and practices will enable producers to make informed decisions regarding the best interventions to employ in order to ensure quality and quantity in both their coffee and food crop production, with the added benefit of preserving their environment.

Founded in: 2009


VIDA promotes food security initiatives for families that live in rural areas. The organization blends sustainable farming practices with new technologies to reduce the negative impact that monocrops have on the environment. Their projects also sustain a supply of local, fresh and nutritious food, thereby decreasing the amount of processed and junk foods that people have incorporated into their diets and thus lowering their overall annual food costs. Coffee Kids began working with VIDA in 2012 on stage one of their Productive Investment in Coffee project and has, so far, been highly impressed with the group’s commitment and ability to implement the project.

The Project

The Partner

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Goal #1: Improve strategic planning in the short and long term

Goal #2: Help VIDA define priorities for future development and learn to delegate functions internally

Goal #3: Improve VIDA’s ability to assess and tell stories about impact, particularly using the Most Significant Change methodology

Rather than focusing on building the technical capacities of farmers as they have in past projects, VIDA is currently developing projects directly aimed at the processing and commercialization of coffee. Because this is not within Coffee Kids’ scope, we will continue to partner with VIDA but will not, in 2014, be able to fund them. This year, we will help them reach the above goals to strengthen their organization. Should VIDA propose projects that fit Coffee Kids’ criteria, we would gladly work with them again in the future.

Although coffee is still a main economic activity for more than 70,000 families in the state of Veracruz, many of the vulnerable, small-scale producers with whom VIDA works have found that climate change, soil degradation and lack of resources to renovate plantations have reduced coffee productivity. This has resulted in many families from the region, who are highly dependent upon coffee for their income, leaving coffee to engage in other economic activities or migrating to the United States or to other states in Mexico.

This project is currently in its second year and involves 3 coffee-producing communities. Due to their remote loca-tion, these communities have not had access to the training or assistance programs offered by the Mexican govern-ment.


The Need

The Results

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Objective

(description)


Instill technical knowledge and increase capabili-ties

2 workshops on soil management and fertility

April 2013 Rescheduled*

June 2013

4 workshops on the production of compost and organic fertilizer

May 2013 Completed

80 participants trained

2 workshops on agroecological prac-tices in coffee production

June 2013 On schedule

4 workshops on agroecological diag-nosis

March – April 2013

Completed

Project execution Start 23,100 coffee seedlings March – June 2013

Ongoing

3 nurseries constructed

1 agroecological & soil composition diagnosis of each of the 77 remaining coffee plots

March – April 2013

Rescheduled*

May – July 2013;

As of May 2013, 13 cof-fee plots diagnosed

Project monitoring and evaluation

Training and support of project coordi-nator and agricultural technician

January – December

2013

Ongoing

Project evaluation August 2013 On schedule

* Rescheduled due to late arrival of funds

Achievements:

• 4 workshops conducted to train project participants and coordinators to carry out agro-ecological profiles of coffee plots

• 16 field technicians selected to conduct the agro-ecological and soil composition profiles of the plots

• 80 project participants (34 women, or 42.5% of total attendees) took part in 4 compost and organic fertilizer workshops

• 16 seedbeds constructed in 3 nurseries to produce 23,100 coffee plants, which will be shared among project’s 77 coffee plots (300 plants per plot) between July and August, 2013

• Monitoring of existing nurseries continues


• Participants are producing organic fertilizer and carrying out agro-ecological profiles of their coffee plots. Through this practical application of training, producers now understand and recognize the value of organic agriculture.

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• After conducting the agro-ecological profiles, producers have a deeper understanding of their coffee plots and are motivated to preserve the biodiversity present.

• With the knowledge and skills gained from the trainings, producers now express interest in creating their own nurseries.

• The collection of agro-ecological profile data has encouraged cooperation, information sharing and camarade-rie among project coordinators.

• Based on research conducted by Chapingo University agronomists, management plans resulting from the proj-ect so far provide a realistic means by which to improve productivity and conserve biodiversity on participants’ coffee farms.

Name: : Leonor Ramos ReynosoCommunity: IxcatlaAge: 52

There are 7 people in my family. I live with my mother, a brother, one of my sisters and her children, and my 13-year-old son. Thus, the majority of people in my household are women working to earn a living. I have 2 hectares of land on which I grow coffee, fruit trees and some trees for wood.

I learned how to grow coffee from my father when I was a little girl. When he passed away, I continued growing cof-fee. Now, thanks to this project, I’ve learned new techniques that are helping me better understand the relationship between the coffee I grow and the environment.

Growing coffee is hard work, but it’s something I enjoy very much. When I was a little girl, my father told us that growing coffee is like having a savings account—you keep the coffee in parchment in sacks and sell it bit by bit when you need money. Nowadays, things have changed some, but we will continue growing coffee. What’s differ-ent now is that we’re working with other producers to improve quality and sell our coffee together.

Name: Agustín Moreno SalgadoCommunity: Ixhuatlan del CaféAge: 48

I have 5 hectares of land where I grow coffee, in addition to some fruit trees and trees for wood. 20 years ago I decided to work with other producers, and 4 years ago we decided to produce certified organic coffee. This was a long discussion, since most everyone in our region produces conventional coffee and sells the cherries, rather than producing green coffee for export. We’ve had to learn a lot these past few years.

Producing specialty coffee requires a lot more knowledge than we originally realized. For example, we’ve had to learn how to analyze physical, chemical and biological soil conditions, in addition to putting a lot of work into renovating coffee plots with good quality seedlings. I really like this project since it helps us produce a quality product, in addition to improving the quality of life of my family. Producing this kind of coffee requires awareness of the environment and a lot of work in the field. Unfortunately, the price we receive for our coffee doesn’t always reflect our effort.


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Name: Victor Nolasco PulidoCommunity: Ixhuatlán del CaféAge: 64

I’ve been a coffee producer for more than 20 years, like most of my fellow farmers. I have 2 hectares of Criollo cof-fee, of the Arabica variety. Many of my fellow farmers tell me my plot looks more like a jungle than a coffee farm. That’s because I have big oak trees and some coffee plants that are more than 60 years old.

Thanks to this project, I’m learning how to grow coffee more efficiently without having to sacrifice my so-called jungle. I’m learning how to maintain the wild birds and animals that live here while renovating my plot and increas-ing productivity.

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Documents

2013 Mid-Year Food Security Reports - Coffee Kids...in Tabaconas, Peru. Program Partner: The Tabaconas Valley Organic Producers Association (APROVAT) Program Area: Food Security