COMBATING MALNUTRION WITH INDIGENOUS SUPERFOODS

BY JESSE HOFFMAN

Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition in the western hemisphere and the 4th highest in the world[1]. In the communities in which Semilla Nueva works, this a daunting and persistent reality. In the coastal region where we work, half of all children under 5 are chronically undernourished and 4 out of 10 are stunted[2][3]. We need to find ways that families can sustainably grow their own way out of malnutrition.

ENTER CHAYA

In our communities we are promoting the use of an indigenous superfood once seen as a staple of the Mayan diet. Chaya is a leafy green plant native to the region that's been called a miracle plant due to its durability and high nutrient content. It grows up to 10 feet tall, is drought resistant, resistant to heavy rainfall and humidity, and fast growing. In only one serving (about 25 leaves) you get as much protein as an egg, with additional vitamins A and C, folic acid, calcium and iron. Watch out kale, here comes the superfood of Central America!

CHAYA VERSUS SPINACH

Can I get some cans of Chaya around here?

Who can forget mighty Popeye's famous endoresment?  We all know spinach is considered a healthy and highly nutritious food.  But who knew that leaf for leaf Chaya, the lesser known vegetable, wins out!  Chaya contains twice the protein of spinach, twice the iron, twice the calcium, 6 times the vitamin A, and 3 times the vitamin C!

 Our Food Security extensionist is currently running cooking classes with womens groups in 9 coastal communities. We cook variations of local and popular dishes, and collaborate with the women to find creative ways to incorporate Chaya into the recipes. In the last few months these womens groups have made chaya soup, chaya lemonande, and Tamalitos wrapped in chaya leaves. Those participating in the classes regularly already know up 5 different Chaya recipes.

Food Security Extensionist Anne Barkett cooking Chaya Tamales
 with a womens group in Monte Cristo.  

GROWING A BETTER TOMORROW WITH CHAYA

Early results from our 2013 nutrition survey show that women have a strong interest in Chaya, seeing it as a free source of nutritious food. Access to Chaya remains the issue - only a handful of women in these communities have Chaya plants and there are no existing local markets to buy them. To help combat the access issue and begin the movement back towards the regular use of this native plant, Semilla Nueva is distributing hundreds of Chaya treelings this summer with the help of Miracles in Action.

The best part is that we are not the only ones catching on to the Chaya craze. Organizations like Miracles in Action, the Guatemalan Government and local universities like Universidad del Valle are all studying and promoting Chaya as a superfood. With the help of local communities, we are working towards a healthier and stronger coastal region of Guatemala.

  

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[1] World Food Program http://www.wfp.org/countries/guatemala/overview

[2] World Food Program http://www.wfp.org/countries/guatemala/overview

[3] www.sesan.gob.gt/index.php/documentos/doc_download/11-tercer-censo-nacional-de-talla

[4] http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20080524/pais/55869

FROM FARM TO TABLE: How Quality Protein Maize is transforming the face of malnutrition

As the rains begin to fall this May in Guatemala, Semilla Nueva is working with farmers to try out a different type of corn, Quality Protein Maize (QPM).  By simply experimenting with this alternative variety of high-protien corn (the crop grown everywhere that provides up to 60% of their diet), farmers can transform the face of malnutrition in their communities.  Scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) were awarded the World Food Prize in 2000 for their development of QPM, a variety that held all of the necessary amino acids to make corn a complete protein, with 90% of the protein of milk.  QPM has been used to combat malnutrition over the last decade from China to Kenya - and it has now arrived in Guatemala, the most malnourished country in the Western Hemisphere.

With the help of several international farming organizations, the World Food Progam and Caritas, Semilla Nueva has helped bring QPM seed into the hands of over 2,500 farmers this May. Given average yields, this could help each family grow over 1,000 pounds of high protein food, helping these 2,500 farmers growing their own way out of poverty and malnourishment. 

Watch our latest video from the communities, farmers and their families who are already sharing in the bounty of this change.  A big thanks to Matthew Harris, our incredible videography intern!

FARMER TO FARMER: How Knowledge Transfer among Smallholders can change the face of agriculture

 In 1972 in the hillsides of Guatemala, a small NGO and a group of Kachikel Mayan Campesinos together discovered a methodology that would transform the face of smallholder agriculture in Central America, and eventually all over the world.  After years of bringing flashy ideas sure to transform entire farming systems, (and smiled upon by the International Development elites), World Neighbors could not seem to gain traction or in their agricultural programs.  No matter how promising the technology, farmers were unwilling to change their practices.  Completely dependent on the meager earnings from their low corn yields, the risk involved in transforming their farm for a chance on a new technology was too much. Furthermore, farmers were (and are) somewhat skeptical of the good intentions of outside “experts” who all too often know all too little about the reality of campesinos culture.

Then, a lightbulb of simplicity went off.  Fancy technologies were scrapped for simple, low-risk changes in growing techniques.  Programs promoting farm-wide transformation were scrapped for a long-term vision and process of experimentation.  Employing Paulo Freire’s horizontal learning, NGO workers accompanied farmers to set up test plots on small portions of their land, trying out one simple change at a time and keeping track of the results compared to their conventional systems, year by year.  As positive results emerged on their own land and were seen with their own eyes, farmers began voluntarily implementing them on their whole farm.

The movement came to be known as campesino a  campesino, a horizontal methodology of knowledge transfer; a farmer-led, locally-empowered agricultural extension movement that proved more than ever that you can never underestimate the power of civil society.  With solidarity on their side, NGO workers achieved results together with farmers, producing systems of empowered individuals acting on their own right, systems that could last long beyond one or two harvests. 

Don Pedro shares his plans to experiment no-burn agriculture,
incorporating crop residues into the soil, with neighboring
farmers at the Monte Cristo conference. 

At Semilla Neuva, we are standing on the shoulders of the giants of the Campesino a Campesino Movement, experimenting with farmers across the Pacific Coast of Guatemala in a number of alternative, sustainable growing techniques and helping them build their own development.

" The CaC movement walks on the legs of innovation and solidarity by experimenting on small, local scales, and by widely sharing knowledge, creativity, experience and wisdom, farmer to farmer."                                                                             -- Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of Food First

Farmers are ready for development (with a lowercase d)

It is estimated that 79% of soils in Guatemala are severely degraded.  Corn yields in Guatemala average less than 20% of yields in developed countries like the US, despite heavy increases in fertilizer application.  And as soil quality continues to decrease, costs of fertilizers and hybrid seeds continue to rise, sucking farmers deeper and deeper into a cycle of debt and poverty with every harvest.

Development cannot be about fixing these problems for the people. At the core of the CaC Movement is the belief that farmers are capable of developing their own agriculture.  Campesinos are not incapable, nor are they willing to stand passive as the large institutions of the world mold and shape their livelihoods. They have a will and work ethic incomparable to any other industry in the world, resisting political and systemic barriers at every turn to feed their families, not to mention providing the main supply of basic grains in the world.  What we want to do is open doors of choice for these people, creating spaces for more empowered decision-making so that they can fix their own problems. Amarty Sen said it best that, “the identity of an individual is essentially a function of her choices, rather than the discovery of an immutable attribute.”

Experimentation allows for the advancement of this context of empowered decision-making by individual farmers. The simple act of keeping track of the farm’s investments can be a life-altering educational experience for the farmer.  Our agronomists walk the rows of corn alongside individual farmers, accompanying them in the process of noting their investments (How much fertilizer did you apply? How much did you spend on seed? What yield did you get in this part of your land compared to the other area where the mango trees are?).  With this information alone farmers start to see where their choices are being limited, and where choice (and empowerment) exists in places they may have never imagined. Experimentation empowers people to change.

"Successes achieved by the villagers themselves changes self-doubts into self-confidence, and discouragement into hope." 

-- Roland Bunch, Two Ears of Corn

Farmers leading the movement 

The real beauty of the CaC movement emerges post-harvest, when the innate communal spirit of farmers arises. The knowledge sharing that occurs between smallholders is something stronger and longer-lasting than any tractor or hybrid seed could provide, and is probably the most important element of our work and the campesino a campesino methodology.   Participating farmers host workshops and conferences, focusing primarily in hands-on, interactive education with their neighbors, helping farmers to realize benefits of practices in a language that they can understand.

Hundreds and thousands of farmers can be experimenting with a variety of agricultural variables at the same time (i.e. no-till/reduced-tillage, seed spacing and type, intercropping and rotations, etc.) and sharing their results across communities and across regions.  Farmers are literally building a database of agricultural research from the farm up, with a total research output sometimes much greater and more applicable than that coming out of major international research centers from the corn fields of Guatemala’s campesinos.  That is something we can truly call grassroots development.

La Montaña, Retalhuleu farmer-led conference in March 2013
hosted by Semilla Nueva. 

Farmers for the future

We believe in development (with a lower-case d) in which people take charge of their own lives, become organized and solve their own problems, a process far more important than the flourishing corn fields and inflated wallets that may result.  Experimentation is the greatest tool we can give because it goes beyond technologies, beyond yield results, beyond crop diversification and into a milieu of a movement. 

We are a resource, a bank of access to alternative ideas, a bridge for these farmers to traverse the rivers of globalization that have separated them from the justice they deserve.  And while we can do our best to build that bridge as soundly as possible, with the best development engineering we can find, it is the civic will and perseverant spirit of thousands of ambitious individuals who will walk themselves across that bridge.

It has been said, ‘those that adopt new ideas quickly, drop them just as quickly.”  Our collaborative projects with farmers take time.  They are fed and nourished by years of building trust, fostering empowerment, and watching new opportunities grow with every new harvest.  What started with a group of Mayan farmers and NGO workers on a hillside in Guatemala has spread all over Central America, standing on the shoulders of over 10,000 practicing campesinos.  For three decades the CaC movement has been patiently developing a farmer-led extension model of sustainable agriculture.

This March each of our communities put on their own farmer-led conferences.  In some cases up to a third of the community showed up to hear about their neighbors new farming techniques.  Semilla Nueva staff simply watched on as participating farmers shared their experiences from last year, while listeners nodded their heads and came to sign up to test out a technique on their own land in 2013.  It wasn't us that did the convincing, its the farmers themselves who are leading the charge.  This is farmer to farmer, and its blossoming right in front of us.

 “Farmer to to farmer is happening. I've seen it with my own eyes. And one of these days we are just going to have to get out of the way.” 

--Semilla Nueva Executive Director Curt Bowen

If you want to hear how Campesino a Campesino works, listen to the words of one of our most promising community leaders, Juan Manuel de Leon, in our most recent video.

Farmer to Farmer in Guatemala // Semilla Nueva from Semilla Nueva on Vimeo.

From Men in Tights to Truly Sustainable Development

If you ever thought that a handful of handsome boys frolicking around a stage in tights had nothing to do with transforming malnutrition in Guatemala, think again.  As a small non-profit, support is welcomed in whatever form it may present itself… even if (and perhaps especially if?) it’s a male beauty pageant. Welcome to our most unique, most creative, most ambitious fundraiser ever. The Semilla Nueva – Kappa Kappa Gamma partnership, combatting poverty one male beauty pageant at a time.

Mr. Whitman contestants with Semilla Nueva Executive
 Director Curt Bowen, and a check for $36,000!

A long Running Partnership...

Although the frolicking men in tights may come and go, the partnership between Semilla Nueva and Whitman college is nothing new.  In a way, Semilla Nueva was born out of the social justice principles advocated throughout the hallways of Whitman College.  In his undergraduate years at Whitman, Executive Director Curt Bowen developed a strong passion for development and real change.  A student-lead trip to Nicaragua in 2005 lead by Curt and other Whitman friends helped spark the fire of activism that would eventually lead to the formation of Semilla Nueva.  That group, now formally titled Whitman Direct Action (WDA), has gone on to administer six development immersion trips, bringing passion and skills to people in need, changing the lives of young Whitman students along the way.  This year will be the fifth consecutive summer that WDA has partnered with Semilla Nueva to bring safe drinking water technologies to the Guatemalan community of Willywood. In addition to the WDA partnership, Curt maintains relations with several Whitman professors, looking to mentors for guidance in his project, and always makes time for speaking with Whitman student groups when in Oregon. 

"Semilla Nueva was selected especially based on its impact, scalability and sustainability.  I didn't know much about sustainable agriculture before talking to Curt, but his knowledge and enthusiasm were so contagious!" - - Kappa Philanthropy Director Sara Graham.

In lieu of the well-established relationship of Semilla Nueva and Whitman, the Kappa Sorority chose Semilla Nueva as their honored non-profit for their annual fundraiser, what is quickly becoming the most attended event on campus these days. The main event is an all-male “beauty pageant” featuring eight senior male contestants strutting their stuff in front of a packed crowd, competing in four categories: Talent (electic, to say the least), Swimwear (yes, the ladies swooned), Formal Wear (use your imagination), and a Q&A session.  This year’s theme: Robin Hood Men in Tights.

The Men in Tights, Mr. Whitman male beauty pageant contestants.

But the boys also spent a great amount of time, energy (and perhaps a little of their social reputation) doing small fundraisers for the months leading up to the actual pageant. Everything from a nude gardening-themed calendar, to barbecues to offering comments on the corner for $1 a pop, these boys were definitely our most ingenious fundraisers we have ever had.  In the end, the coveted crown was adorned to Jack Lazar, a global health major who swooned judges with song and dance, while also raising $4,628 individually through a book of artistically risqué photos of local rock climbers. 

Jack Lazar, 2012 Mr. Whitman winner.

THE IMPACT
What does $36,000 mean to an organization like Semilla Nueva?  We have just begun to scratch the surface of benefits.

Mr. Whitman money has first and foremost allowed us to solidify planning for our new Food Security and Nutrition Program, making Semilla Nueva’s biggest expansion yet.  Semilla Nueva has always worked on helping farmers earn more and protect their soils. But we also really want to start moving those benefits from the farm to the family.  In the communities where we work, chronic malnutrition is between 25% and 78%. That means that due to a lack of protein and nutrients in the diet, children's brains and bodies don't develop fully.  While some NGO's simply fly in one-time, cure-all nutrient packets, we want to confront malnutrition at the root of the problem.  We want to help farmers find ways to sustainably grow their own nutrient “packages”, attacking malnutrition for their kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Building off of the enthusiastic acceptance of a pilot nutrition project we had in communities in 2012, we have started the Food Security and Nutrition Program off with a bang in 2013 with 3 high-impact technologies.

Pigeonpea, a bean crop high in protein, can provide
 food security to thousands of families in the dry season
and can be grown without any water, fertilizers or pesticides!

Pigeonpea, a bean for the future

The greatly successful pilot nutrition program was centered around the high-protein crop called pigeonpea. A native crop to Guatemala, we introduced new varieties to over 200 families in the region while working with women’s cooking groups to teach the benefits of pigeonpea as well as how to incorporate it into the local diet.  We hope that from the 200 trying it this year, we'll be able to get over 600 next year. But while pigeonpea is a great tool, if we truly want to make a dent in childhood malnutrition we need to go farther.

Quality Protein Maize (QPM)

After 40 years of work scientists have been able to design special corn varieties that have 90% of the protein of milk (someone should let the vegans know!).  While most of the families we serve have diets based almost entirely on corn tortillas, QPM is a high-impact, fast-resulting technology that helps children catch up on lost growth from lack of protein simply by eating a different kind of corn.

Quality Protein Maize can improve a family's nutrition
within one season, drastically increasing protein content
simply by eating a different type of corn! 

Mr. Whitman money helped fund the selection of families in our communities with extremely malnourished children and swap their normal corn for this high-protein corn. In only a few months, we will be able to measure the increased protein content in the families’ diets and prove the incredible impacts of QPM!  As well, the families will be able to see visible changes in their children’s development with their own eyes.  From here, the Farmer to Farmer model kicks in and participants start sharing their results with neighbors.  Interest is already growing and we plan to plant QPM with 70 farmers in May of this year.

Chaya, the miracle tree

Leaves of the Chaya tree, a native fast-growing
 tree, can provide up to twice the amount
of protein and vitamins in one egg.

Superfood, leafy green, tasty miracle tree.  Chaya is like the kale of Guatemala, only better because it’s a native, fast-growing tropical tree that can save lives in rural communities. Take 25 leaves from a Chaya tree, chop them up and add them to your soup and you’ve just integrated twice the amount of protein and vitamins in one single egg into your diet. 

The Chaya tree can also be used a living fence (a technique used by all the farmers in the area).  Right now Mr. Whitman money is directly funding our vision of thousands of feet of Chaya fence lining households, filled with hope and nutrients.  So far we’ve planted 40 Chaya treelings in our communities and families are sharing the “Miracle Tree” idea everyday with neighbors. 

From men in tights to Truly Sustainable Development

Change is such a weird thing.  It comes from such small and seemingly insignificant decisions.  It comes from the strangest and most unconventional of places.  It comes when passions are connected across country boundaries, across ideas of sustainability, across oceans of creativity.  It comes when all the little drops of impact add up and contribute to a river of social change.  We're still in that process here of building those little moments at Semilla Nueva. And for this one that Mr. Whitman and all its participants helped us build, we want to say thank you.

The humble beginnings of ardent activists on the campus of Whitman has lead to a long-lasting partnership that is bringing real, sustainable change in Guatemala. As Curt explained, "The way we think about development, the way we believe in social change and justice, the chances we had to really learn to work hard-- all of these things came from our time as undergraduates at Whitman.  We wouldn't be where we are without those experiences. I can't express how thankful we are to Whitman for providing such a passionate community standing in support with us, and for making possible all of these audacious ideas of development we aim to achieve."

We never would have started planning our Food Security and Nutrition program expansion if it weren’t for the support of the Mr. Whitman contest.  From every last frat boy strutting in front of a crowd of giggling girls to every last dirt hut we have stayed in next to small children, so much smaller than they should be--Semilla Nueva is honored to be a part of an unconventional global movement that believes that sustainable, change is possible. Thank you to the Whitman community, for all you have given us!

Pigeonpea: tackling root causes of poverty in Guatemala

In 2005, a team of college students armed with goodwill and the best of intentions set off to Nicaragua.  Their mission: to build a house for a poor Central American family.

As the last of the nails were hammered in, they stepped back to admire our accomplishments. Neighbors walked over to ask about the house. But as many thank yous were offered, an equal amount of requests accompanied them.  Could they build their family a house, give them a job, or pay their medical bills? One request particularly touched everyone's heart. A man came to work for free and at the end of the week asked for $400 to pay for a surgery to save his mother's life.  How could so little be necessary to do so much? But a deeper realization came to these 18 and 19 year olds-- that no one could build enough houses, or provide enough free medical serviced to end poverty.  Changes were needed to end the root causes of poverty, rather than just alleviate its symptoms.

Fast forward 7 years.  Its 2013 and an organization named Semilla Nueva, started by those once naïve boys, is changing the face of rural Guatemala, one farmer at a time. Its simple, the majority of the world’s poor are farmers.  What they need are ways to increase their income from farming.  Semilla Nueva, which means new seed, brings them simple farming changes that help them rebuild their soils, feed their families, and up to double their income. Their aim is to help farmers earn enough to build their own houses and pay their own medical bills.

Raul Reyes, a Semilla Nueva promotor farmer, shows off
his bounty of pigeonpea from 2012.  Grown in the dry season
with no fertilizer and little to no maintenance, Raul
harvested over 20 pounds of pigeonpea to sell in
local markets and eat with his family.

A perfect way to understand what Semilla Nueva does for farmers is through a local bean called pigeonpea. Semilla Nueva is currently working to introduced a new type of pigeonpea that is small enough to be grown in between the rows of farmers' traditional crops, corn and sesame. Farmers don't increase their costs, don't lose their traditional crops, and in exchange get an extra crop to eat and sell. Pigeonpea also rebuilds farmers' soils and helps farmers grow a complete protein in one of the fourth most malnourished countries in the world. It's a win-win for farmers, and an innovation which could help the over 250,000 families who grow corn in tropical Guatemala. Working on the ground, Semilla Nueva's staff have seen the impacts that these changes can make in a farmer's life.

Saul Gonzalez is a farmer in the Guatemalan village of Conrado de la Cruz. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, and lately for many of his grandchildren as well. Despite being one of the poorest farmers Semilla Nueva works with, Saul never ceases to amaze and inspire with his contagious smile, unstoppable work ethic, and incessant willingness to try new ideas. He tried pigeonpea on a small parcel of land in 2011, and seeing the results, planted pigeonpea with all his crops in 2012. And that decision may have saved a life.

Saul Gonzalez, Semilla Nueva promotor farmer.

Last year, Saul 's learned that his nine year old granddaugher's brain surgery had been unsuccessful. The public hospital had tried to stop the advance of a brain tumor, but it had come back and the government doctors were beyond their ability. A local non-profit had teamed up with a hospital in Canada to provide another surgery to Maria, but only if Saul could cover $220 of visa applications and other costs. He asked friends and family, but no one had the money to help.

Saul didn't have the money, and again the dilemma surfaced which is so common in the developing world: a few hundred dollars for someone's life. But Saul did have something. This was the first year he'd planted a large amount of pigeonpea, and it would soon be ready to harvest. He sold the crop in advance and paid the visa.

Maria began her surgery on February 22^nd  at the Children's Hospital in Toronto.

Maria de Los Angeles, Saul's grandaughter, preparing
for surgery and keeping a smile on her face.

  

Semilla Nueva's hope and pride come from the the continual repeat of this story. Farmer by farmer, surgery by surgery, home by home, we are watching as our partner farmers earn  the means to care for their own lives. It is a string of stories that are just beginning.

Next year we plan to watch farmers earn over $25,000 from selling pigeonpea. The year after, we expect six digits. And this is only one of the technologies Semilla Nueva is promoting in our ten partner villages. As other NGO's and government agencies are starting to copy this model, this impact can only grow. More than numbers on a paper, this is what keeps us going.  We are seeing these lives change in front of us. Their stories become ours. And the moral of the story is simple: with some dedication and some smarts, we can solve big problems together.

Semilla Nueva agronomist Trinidad Recinos with a local farmer.