Latin America

New Evidence of Impact: Agroecology as a Poverty Solution in Haiti

February 15, 2023

Since 2009, Groundswell International has been collaborating with Partenariat pour le Développement Local (PDL) in Haiti to strengthen farmers’ associations in the north of Haiti’s Central Plateau basin to regenerate their farmland and improve their lives. PDL has strengthened 14 peasant organizations, with over 9,900 farmers adapting agroecological farming strategies and spreading them farmer-to-farmer. These organizations also manage community savings & credit coops, seed banks, grain reserves, and cooperative enterprises for value-added food processing and local marketing.

“We are strengthening the capacity and agency of community and peasant organizations because this creates the space for decentralized, agroecological technical innovation,” says Cantave Jean-Baptiste, Director of PDL. “Individual farmers cannot do it alone, but much can be learned through farmer-to-farmer training. We continue to face political and economic crises on a daily basis, but the country will need sound alternatives like these in order to wake up from the ashes.”

To evaluate the impact of this work, in 2021 we collaborated with Altus Impact, based in Switzerland, and the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative, based in Bonn, Germany, on an assessment grounded in environmental economics. Evaluators carried out surveys of 330 households, sampled from three communal sections in northern Haiti, comparing the ‘farm budgets’ of agroecological versus conventional farmers (the value of all production, less all costs of all inputs and labor). They also analyzed satellite data to validate land productivity of the surveyed farms.

Findings – Agroecological Farming in Haiti: A Poverty Crisis Solution

The results are summarized in the Policy Brief – Agroecological Farming in Haiti: A Poverty Crisis Solution. Key findings include:

The adoption of agroecological farming leads to impressive increases in productivity and a doubling of per-hectare profitability in the program area.
Controlling for inputs and labor, typical agroecological farmers have gross, annual crop incomes that are US $437 higher per hectare than average conventional farmers.
Satellite data confirmed higher land productivity, vegetative cover, and climate resilience for agroecological plots, even when receiving less rainfall.
Additionally, these agroecological practices can increase water retention and carbon sequestration in the soil, reduce topsoil losses and mudslides, and increase food security.

Background on the Poverty in Haiti

These are significant impacts in a country where as many as 90% of rural people live below the poverty line, and over 30% of the population lives in extreme poverty (incomes of less than US $2.15/day or US $785/year ). In 2022, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) ranked Haiti in the 10 worst hunger crises in the world, with 4.3 million in need of immediate food assistance.

Over 4.8 million of Haiti’s population of 11.45 million live in rural areas, and agriculture and fisheries provide employment to half the labor force but account for less than 20 percent of GDP. Due to neglect and ineffective support to farmers over decades and international trade policies that have undermined local food production, Haiti must import a growing and significant portion of the agricultural products it consumes. The country continues to be impacted by a historical model of extractive economic and agricultural development, political and institutional instability, increasing gang violence, extreme levels of insecurity, and high vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters.

Agroecological Solutions for the Poverty in Haiti

According to the study, “scaling-up of agroecological model farming would result in a significant economic infusion into rural communities, improvements in livelihoods and enhanced climate resilience. …. Farmer-centered and decentralized agricultural innovation, extension and development needs to be supported.”

Specifically, if agroecological farmers were able to extend these practices to the remaining ⅔ of their land, the study projects they would earn an additional annual net income of US $553, totaling US $990 per year. Extending it to the rest of Haiti’s approximately 1 million smallholder farmers would generate ground-up economic growth based on the agency of Haiti’s rural communities and the regeneration of their land. To make this a reality, further action is needed and outlined in this study, as well as by other organizations, as a solution based on “decentralized agricultural innovation, extension and development, and the regeneration of degraded land and rural livelihoods.”

Read the entire policy brief here.

Youth Storytellers in Honduras: Part 2

July 26, 2022

Intro / Part 1

Groundswell International collaborated with two of our partner organizations, Vecinos Honduras and Association Nourrir Sans Détruire, to elevate the voices of young storytellers in South America and Western Africa, allowing them to shape the next generation’s global narrative. The newest round of videos in our Youth Storytellers series comes from some exceptional youths in Honduras.

Income Generation

The Los Cavales Número Uno community of Azabache continues to be empowered by Groundswell International and Vecinos Honduras’ support of local development. In this video, Youth Storyteller Yesica Lagos discusses both her and her neighbors’ experience with Vecinos Honduras’ program, with Yesica describing her involvement with Vecinos Honduras as “one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.”

With training and support from Vecinos Honduras, Yesica’s community is seeing a regeneration of its local economy as locals find success in various business enterprises- including wood carving, motorcycle workshops, sheet metalworking, and even Yesica’s own snack business- enabling this community to generate their own income and gain independence from outside middlemen. As her community continues to build on its success, Yessica says, “They have left a legacy in our lives, in our communities.”

Hear more in Yesica’s own words by watching the video below or on YouTube:

Yaneth: Local Markets

Youth Storytellers are not only using their videos as a way to illustrate their community successes to the global community but as a call to action to their local communities to participate in their own empowerment and community building. In the area of Guarumas, El Tránsito, and Canadelaria, Vecinos Honduras supports community members in creating local markets that allow entrepreneurs- who have learned skills in their trades through training provided by Vecinos Honduras- to offer their products to the public, growing the local economy and reducing the need to travel to other areas for goods.

Watch the video below or on YouTube:

Farmer Experimentation

“A producer with vocation is the one who works harmoniously with nature.”

For decades, farmers in the El Corazon de Maria region of Honduras have felt the hard effects of climate change. Formerly a sawmill called La Sierra, El Corazon de Maria experienced much deforestation that has altered the local environment, creating lasting consequences for the local farmers, their community, and their culture.

Training from Groundswell International and Vecinos Honduras has taught local farmers better practices for working with the land they live on and adapting the seeds of their ancestors to the current climate situation, allowing them to no longer have to rely on GMO seeds brought in by outside groups, and creating harmony between the farmers and the environment they live in.

Watch the video below or on YouTube:

Youth Storytellers: Empowering the Next Generation

May 16, 2022

Agroecological farming and resilient local food systems are more effective and beneficial for people and our planet than industrialized agriculture. The need for a just transition from fossil fuel-based agriculture and dependence on food imports is even more evident with the high inflation of food and chemical fertilizers that are impacting millions. Scaling agroecological and local market alternatives are essential for nourishing people and reversing climate change. Yet, the false narrative that continues to dominate globally is that industrialized agriculture must ‘feed the world.’ This is a mindset that we work alongside our partners to change.

A large part of our mission at Groundswell International is to empower the communities we work in because we know wholeheartedly that the people in these communities are the real change-makers at the core of the success of our programs. This is especially true of young people.

The Youth Storytellers Program

With this in mind, in 2021, we piloted a Youth Storytellers program with our network partners Association Nourrir Sans Détruire (ANSD) in Burkina Faso and Vecinos Honduras in Latin America. We supported our partners to identify interested young people in program communities and facilitated them to retain basic communications training and equipment to produce brief videos on local success stories.

Since then, our Youth Storytellers have documented the lives of smallholder farmers, including the strategies and techniques critical to their success and the universal elements shared with other farmers around the world. They have highlighted the improved resilience achieved by farming with nature instead of against it.

The Youth Storytellers have shared their videos locally with their communities through social media and gatherings, inspiring others to action. Now we’re taking the opportunity to finalize and translate 15 videos to share with you to allow these youths to shape the narrative internationally in 2022.

These Youth Storytellers are not only reshaping the global narrative surrounding how to ‘feed the world,’ but also working to inspire and empower other young people where they live. Youth Storytellers like Edras Amado Benegas in Honduras have led by example and gained a sense of agency as they recognize, document, and strengthen the power of community-based organizations to spread real solutions.

Edras explained, “I want to motivate other young people who are going through difficult situations, and who do not feel they count. I invite them to get involved, and find the opportunity to participate and be heard.”

It has been absolutely amazing to watch our Youth Storytellers use communications to drive positive social change, and we’re excited for you to see what they have to offer as we continue to find ways to make local voices heard globally in 2022.

Watch these Youth Storytellers in action here.

Hurricane Eta is a Bleak Reminder of a Climate in Crisis and Why Agroecology is a Solution

November 10, 2020

Groundswell’s Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, Edwin Escoto, shared the below statement regarding the devastation of Hurricane Eta in Central America. For non-Spanish speakers, we have provided an edited English translation following the statement from Edwin. For anyone looking to help provide long-term food security to the region, you can donate here.

Huracán Eta: La venganza de la tierra

La flecha muestra el sitio donde estaba puente sobre el rio Ulua que comunica a comunidades de Chinda en Santa Bárbara. Es en estas comunidades donde apoyan los colegas de SVH o TCP.

Por: Edwin Escoto

Durante miles de años la Humanidad ha explotado la tierra sin tener en cuenta las consecuencias. Ahora que el calentamiento global y el cambio climático son evidentes para cualquier observador imparcial, la Tierra comienza a vengarse. Así lo cita el famoso científico y ambientalista británico James Lovelock en su libro “La venganza de la tierra”.

Las consecuencias del nivel de degradación ambiental y de lo mal que hemos tratado a la naturaleza, evidenciado en la deforestación de los bosques, heridas en los ríos con el saqueo de sus huesos, despreciado a la tierra arrojándole basura; y que, ahora pretendemos que sea tranquila, dócil y afable mientras ella con su actuar rebelde nos recuerda que nos ha dado oportunidades para rectificar nuestro trato, de lo contrario más temprano que tarde habrá reciprocidad en tan desigual relación.

Eta el más reciente y devastador huracán que desató su furia en Centroamérica, es solamente una forma de manifestación que el planeta tiene y nos recuerda lo vulnerable que somos. En los países más afectados, Nicaragua, Honduras y Guatemala la historia ha sido la misma, lluvias, inundaciones deslizamientos, evacuados y lo peor de todo, un considerable número de muertos. Y como casi siempre, la población en situación de pobreza las más afectada.

Imágenes dramáticas de ciudades bajo el agua, son solamente un reflejo del daño que hemos causado al planeta. Despertemos humanidad, aún hay tiempo nos dijo Berta Cáceres, líder indígena y social asesinada en 2016 por su lucha en la defensa de la tierra, de los ríos, de la vida.

Calentamiento Global, cambio climático, la venganza de la tierra; no importa como le llamemos, aún existen alternativas de convivencia comprobadas. La Agroecología es una de ellas o quizás la única. Las comunidades que han resistido las acometidas de la naturaleza han sido aquellas en las cuales las familias realizan prácticas de producción basadas en el conocimiento ancestral, pero especialmente basadas en la no interrupción de los ciclos de la naturaleza.

Desde Groundswell International se promueven de proyectos de esperanza que construyen vida, que apuntan a reducir pobreza y evitar que familias enteras se vayan de nuestros países ya sea por la violencia, inseguridad y por la falta de alimentos.

Por cierto, uno de los mayores efectos de mediano y largo plazo que el huracán Eta dejará en la población afectada, en su mayoría urbana, será la falta de alimentos, pues grandes extensiones de cultivos que hacen parte de la dieta básica centroamericana han sido afectadas (maíz, frijol y arroz), de igual manera han sido afectados cultivos de agroexportación. Seguirán siendo las familias campesinas que residen en las tierras marginales (de ladera), quienes provean de alimento al resto de la población. Sin embargo, la mayor dificultad será la movilización ya que debido a los deslizamientos de tierra muchas carreteras permanecen obstruidas, al igual que se ha interrumpido el paso por la caída de puentes sobre caudalosos y temporales ríos.

Ante tal panorama y en el afán de asegurar los alimentos, se requiere apoyo para el almacenamiento local de granos (maíz y frijoles), para ello infraestructura de acopio es necesaria. Ya los productores organizados mantienen reservas comunitarias como una estrategia para enfrentar el desabastecimiento provocado por el COVID-19 y las medidas gubernamentales que restringen la movilización.

Lo anterior es solamente uno de los beneficios de la Agroecología, la cual ha ganado mucha atención en las últimas tres décadas como base para la transición a una agricultura que no solo proporcionaría a las familias rurales beneficios sociales, económicos y ambientales significativos, sino que también alimentaría a la población urbana de manera equitativa y sostenible.

Pobladores de Azabache, Danlí, El Paraíso en labores de limpieza de la carretera que fue obstaculizada por deslizamiento de tierra.

Cultivo de café afectado por deslizamiento de tierra en comunidades de Azabache, Danlí, El Paraíso

Carretera destrozada en comunidades de Azabache, Danlí, El Paraíso

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Hurricane Eta: Revenge of the Earth

By: Edwin Escoto

For too long, humanity has exploited the Earth with little concern for the long-term consequences. Now, with the impacts of global climate change ravaging much of the planet, the Earth is making us feel the consequences of our disregard. This is what the famous British scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock warned in his book “Revenge of Gaia.”

Our mistreatment of the Earth can be seen almost everywhere – in the deforested landscapes, air thick with pollution, rivers fouled with chemicals, oceans filled with plastic, and rising sea levels. According to Sofar Ocean, “Rising sea levels will impact our drinking water, food supply, and overall health. “As sea levels rise, saltwater intrusion into freshwater increases the salinity of groundwater basins and well water. This reduces crop yields and the availability of safe drinking water. It also increases the risk of hypertension, as well as vector-borne and diarrheal disease,” said one joint report by the Public Health Institute and the Center for Climate Change and Health.” Yet, we expect the Earth to remain docile as we continue to kill her. She’s angry now, and her anger will keep showing up in increasingly dangerous ways until we take steps to remedy all the wounds we’ve inflicted.

Hurricane Eta, the most recent and devastating hurricane that unleashed its fury in Central America, is a bleak reminder of our vulnerability as a species when up against planetary forces responding to the climate crisis. In the most affected countries of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, the story has been the same – rains, floods, landslides, evacuees, and tragically, a considerable number of deaths. As in almost every natural disaster, the population living in poverty is the most affected.

One of the harshest long-term effects that hurricane Eta will have on Central America, mostly in urban settings, will be the lack of food, since large areas of crops that are part of the region’s basic diet have been affected (corn, beans, and rice). It will continue to be the peasant families residing in the marginal lands (on the hillside) who provide food for the rest of the population. However, the greatest difficulty will be mobilization in the aftermath of landslides. Many roads remain obstructed and main passageways have been interrupted by the fall of bridges over large and temporary rivers.

In an effort to supply enough food for the population, support is required for the local storage of grains (corn and beans). Organized producers already maintain community reserves as a strategy to face the shortages caused by COVID-19 and the government measures that restrict mobilization.

This is just one of the benefits of Agroecology, which has gained much attention in the last three decades as an effective means to transition from conventional to ecological agriculture that would not only provide rural families with significant social, economic, and environmental benefits, but also as a long-term solution to feed urban populations in an equitable and sustainable way.

Global Warming. Climate Crisis. Revenge of Gaia. The horrific consequences of continuing to mistreat our planet are the same, regardless of the terminology. However, that doesn’t mean that the outcome is inevitable. We, together as global neighbors, can – and must – do better. Agroecology is one of the most proven, sustainable solutions available to us in our quest to mitigate the effects of climate change. The communities who have been able to reclaim a symbiotic relationship with the natural world around them have been those in which families carry out production practices based on ancestral knowledge and rooted in agroecological operations which honor nature’s cycles.

Groundswell International promotes programs of hope that build livelihoods aimed at reducing poverty and preventing entire families from forced migration due to violence, crippling poverty, systemic suppression, and food insecurity.

Please contribute to helping provide nutritional security and support for Central America by clicking here.