Sugeyli and her two sons

“You Have Given to Us and Expect Nothing Back”

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Come in to see our chancha!” Oscar and his older brother Witer ran ahead of us as their mother excitedly invited us into their house to see their large pig which had recently given birth to 12 piglets.

We followed, expecting to walk out the back door after entering the house, but the two brothers turned into the small, smoke-filled kitchen. There she was, their pride and joy, snout to the hard dirt floor, hunting for food with her 12 little pink piglets.

For Sugeyli, this family of pigs living in her kitchen eases her worry about her sons not having enough to eat. These pigs give her hope for their future.

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The Village of Buena Vista Faces a New Problem

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We recently updated you on a great story from the community of Buena Vista, where leaders were trained and were able to get a well dug in their community! Previous to this families had been carrying water from up to one-quarter of a mile to their homes. (To read this story, click here.)

Today, Buena Vista the leadership of Buena Vista is facing a new challenge, how to combat a severe drought affecting their community.

The average, the rainfall in August is usually over 40 inches, however in August they only received 1.5 inches of rain. The rain in September was also close to a record low. This means that farmers lost their first cycle of crops and there are increasing concerns that the second (and last) crop cycle of the year will be lost as well.

Most farmers rely on their crops to feed their families. Without a harvest, their families have nothing to eat.

Families in the area have been selling their cattle and other farm animals for money to buy food.The spike in farm animal sales has caused their price to drop, while at the same time, the price of basic grains has increased.

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Emergency Drought Plan Offers Relief to Parched Farms

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After a year of record-breaking drought, CEPAD and our partners ACT Alliance and Episcopal Relief and Development have taken further steps to help Nicaraguan farmers who lost crops and are struggling to feed their families.

“We haven’t had a good harvest in two years, and we couldn’t have survived without CEPAD,” said Hermelinda Urbina of the community Nacascolo. “We need water more than anything, and now thanks to CEPAD we have food to eat until it starts to rain in May.”

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All of This is in the Reach of Our Hands

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Thanks to Sara Delaney and all our partners at Episcopal Relief and Development for this wonderful story of CEPAD’s work. ERD partners with our farming programs in Nueva Guinea and San Francisco Libre to help provide training and support for families and farmers there.

Over a hot, humid, rainy week in Nicaragua recently, I spent some time with our partner there, the Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD). This was my third visit to see their work, and I’ve written in previous years about the amazing mega-gardens that small farmers have created around their homes.

This time, I wanted to see for myself how CEPAD works to share ideas on the management of these gardens with farmers. So I attended a two-day exchange workshop that brought together about 40 participating men and women from the surrounding area. It was one workshop in a whole series that farmers go through over a three-year period, and this one featured techniques for making natural fertilizers and pesticides using local ingredients.

 Read the rest of the story at the Episcopal Relief and Development blog.

THANKS TO YOU, Arnulfo’s Yields Are Higher Despite Climate Change

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Nicaragua’s rainy season is getting shorter, summers are hotter, and long-trustworthy climate cycles are less consistent.

So times are especially hard in San Francisco Libre, a region of the country where soil quality and lack of water has always caused challenges for farmers. CEPAD trains farmers to help them learn to overcome the environmental pressures they face.

“CEPAD taught me how to make banks and ditches with the soil to trap water and protect the plant roots,” said Arnulfo Jose Espinoza Gonzalez, who has been a farmer in the region for 13 years. “CEPAD helped me buy barrels to collect water, too. I’ve seen a big change in my plants.”

Since incorporating what he learned from CEPAD, Arnulfo said he is able to grow some crops for the first time, and his corn and plantain yields are rising. Support from CEPAD donors has meant more income for Arnulfo and his wife and five kids. He said he’s less worried about how they will care for their new baby. In a meeting with farmers from around the region, CEPAD and representatives from ACT Alliance led a workshop with farmers to identify the risks they faced and possible solutions.

Farmers were excited to learn about opportunities to seek funds from CEPAD and from local governments to install irrigation systems. Farmers in San Francisco Libre are committed to working with a changing climate to ensure they can continue farm work to provides food and income. CEPAD will be there with training to give farmers in harsh regions a shot at success. In the future, Arnulfo hopes he can quit his other job at a roof tile manufacturing plant and farm full time to earn enough to feed his children and pay for their school.

“I am a farmer in my heart,” he said. “I’m learning how to work with the climate to plant crops that will grow well, and my income from the farm is increasing a little bit. With God’s help, I will keep fighting.”

Arnulfo’s pride in his new plants reminds us why we keep fighting, too. Thank you for your continued support of CEPAD’s work! You make a difference in the lives of rural Nicaraguan families every day.

People in Cumaica Norte are Thriving Despite Record Drought and High Food Prices

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The price of beans in Nicaragua is triple what it was this time last year. For most of the people we work with at CEPAD, that means they and their children are eating more rice and fewer beans.

The causes include global market pressures that have increased exports and a year of devastatingly low rainfall because of the El Niño climate cycle and overall global climate change. Rainfall in Nicaragua has been up to 88 percent lower than normal. But in Cumaica Norte, a community in the San Jose de los Remates region, farmers are celebrating a beautiful bean harvest thanks to an irrigation system CEPAD installed and trained them to use.

 

Eduardo Orozco Rivas, one of the CEPAD community organizers in Cumaica Norte, couldn’t wait to show recent visitors from Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church his beautiful beans. He explained that they lost a pepper crop to a disease but knew from CEPAD trainings that they could reuse the rich soil to plant another crop on top of the failed peppers.

“With the irrigation and from the fertilizer made by the pepper plants, these beans were born,” he said. “Look at this crop, how beautiful they are! This is a blessing from God.”

Eduardo asked me to thank CEPAD’s partners and supporters for providing the funds that  brought the irrigation system to Cumaica Norte. Each system costs just over $2,000, and with the help of donors we have installed more than 20 of these systems. Thank you from Eduardo and all of us here at CEPAD! Your donation will make it possible for more of our farmers to grow the crops that sustain their families.

Improved Nutrition and Financial Security In Communities Wows Volunteer

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By Leala Rosen

Rachel and I visited Nicaragua in January and spent two weeks learning about CEPAD’s work empowering small farmers and improving food security through sustainable agriculture training. During our time with CEPAD, we stayed at homestays with farmers who have participated in CEPAD agricultural trainings. We stayed on two farms – one was with a family that had been the first Community Agricultural Promoters in the community, and the other was in the earlier stages of working with CEPAD to improve their food security and nutrition.Community Agricultural Promoters work with disciples in their communities in order to teach others about organic, sustainable agriculture techniques in order to improve crop yields and water efficiency as well as increase food security within the farmer’s homes.

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A Single Mom Gains Leadership and Farming Skills

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As the only breadwinner in her home Tita Rocha was delighted when she was chosen to be a Community  Agriculture Promoter to learn about conservation techniques as well how to diversify her crops and improve the type of food that her family can eat throughout the year.

“I am happy because I am changing the way I work the land. I am now planting different crops that will yield food for my children in different times of the year, making use of techniques of soil and water conservation to protect my land and my plants.”

Tita participated in three trainings provided by CEPAD and learned conservation techniques which included preventing soil erosion through the use of live and dead barriers, making natural pesticides and making organic fertilizer.

As a Community Agriculture Promoter Tita also has other farmers who she is sharing the information she learned with to help them also improve their crops and protect the environment.

For Tita the value of these trainings extends to her children as well. She is teaching them what she has learned which is helping them to be more involved in the work that she does.

In the future Tita hopes to plant all of her land to reap the benefits of her newly diversified crops. “In the future I hope to plant the rest of my land,  putting into practice what I have learned through the trainings.”

Thanks to your support of  CEPAD’s programs together we were able to train 516 farmers in 2012 in these farming techniques, improving their food security as well as their  treatment of the environment. This post originally appeared in the Fall 2013 CEPAD Report. Subscribe to the e-newsletter to receive the report and other news from CEPAD.

Irrigation Systems Mean Hope In Face of Drought

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The first half of 2013 left many Nicaraguan farmers in despair as crops and animals died. But Luis Robles has hope for the future after CEPAD installed an irrigation system to help farmers in his community.

Luis, 23, leads the Community Development Committee in Malacatoya, a rural community outside of San Jose de los Remates, some 96 kms from Managua, the capital city. This year, he and two other farmers were able to irrigate their crops thanks to a motorized irrigation system that pumps water to their farms. This system will allow them to harvest basic crops year round to provide food for their families and to increase their income.

“Because of climate change, the drought this year was long and hard,” Luis said. “We had enough clean water to drink, but we didn’t have enough water to cultivate. So, it was amazing when CEPAD brought us the irrigation system and trained us how to use it.”

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