Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet, despite important socioeconomic progress Nicaragua still faces headwinds that stalls its development. At the national level 39% of the population lives in poverty. 8% lives in extreme poverty, meaning more than 2.3 million cannot meet their basic needs. These numbers are even greater in the rural areas. This area is largely populated by indigent small farmers struggling to make ends meet.
These farmers face many challenges. Two that dominate are low productivity and poor market access. The farmers have limited production capacity. Inadequate quality inputs and lack of knowledge on efficient sustainable techniques coupled with poor access to the markets are also impacted by the local effects of climate change. So, in 2018 a pilot project for about 400 smallholder farmers was conceived to see if the alchemy combining animals (pigs, in particular) from Heifer International, access to water made possible with KickStart International manual pumps and biodigesters from Sistema Biobolsa along with high quality inputs and training could improve impact.
The results of this joint effort spearheaded by the Greater Impact Foundation and the American Nicaragua Foundation are still flowing in, but one story resonates and gives hope that the combination of productive assets from likeminded funders can and does work. And sometimes do even more. The project was aptly named Growing Hope.
Recently, our partner on the ground in Nicaragua, the American-Nicaragua Foundation led by Nicolás Arqüello headed up north and visited one of the biodigester + pig farm beneficiaries who has made a successful microenterprise out of biol (organic fertilizer). The biodigester’s primary function is to provide organic fertilizer for the farm which typically can foster improvements to crop productivity up to 30%. However, even the smallest digester is so productive that it often produces more fertilizer than the small farm needs. Along with the improvement in his farm productivity Arnaulfo, the farmer, sells between 200-600 liters of excess biol per month for $8 each. His variable costs are about $5/liter. So, he’s making about $1,000-$1,200 per month in profits from the fertilizer alone. Not bad!
Our hope is to align several funders along with the Greater Impact Foundation to continue to develop programs like Growing Hope and take them to scale. The combination of quality inputs and training, biodigesters, access to water and animals along with willing farmers like Arnaulfo is the alchemy which does transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
