HELPS Economic Initiative:  HELPS/DISAGRO Corn Program

The Problem 

Poverty is one of the chief scourges of mankind, having an impact on people of all ages, races and gender.  Poverty deprives human beings of the basic necessities of life and debilitates the human spirit.

The poverty in Latin America is far reaching.   FUNDESA, one of Guatemala's oldest and most respected non-governmental organizations, has   found that the nation has the highest levels of poverty in the entire region. 57% of the population are poor and over one quarter of Guatemala's population lives on less than $40 per year.   This means that over 2.9 million people  live in abject poverty.

 Demographic trends insure that the problem is getting worse, not better.  Guatemala's population is growing up to 2.8% per year, one of the highest growth rates in the world, but the growth is concentrated among the rural poor. The United Nations Development Program estimates that the average indigenous woman has seven "successful" births. 

With populations doubling in a little over 20 years,  it is imperative to take action  now to alleviate the poverty in Latin America.

Economic activity in Guatemala can be categorized into three basic areas:

1. The "first world" economy based on cash, manufacturing, services and factors similar to the US mainstream economy.

2. The poor urban population

3. The poor indigenous (Mayan) population.

While all three are important, HELPS believes that relieving the poverty of the indigenous rural poor is its highest priority because they  are among Guatemala's most poverty stricken.  Even with emigration to the cities, they become the urban poor very quickly.  The rural poor feed illegal immigration to the United States as well. 

The Solution

What can be done to change this seemingly hopeless situation?  What kind of programs can be given to  people who live as they have for thousands of years?  HELPS believes that the answer relates to the basic activity of every villager throughout the region:  the cultivation of corn.

Ever since the "corn god" became the supreme deity of the indigenous Mayan people centuries ago,  corn production continues today in the same ancient way and is the main economic "life" in rural villages.  Corn still defines the identity of the Mayan people. It is said that one's economic understanding of Guatemala can be tested by whether one knows the current price of corn.

HELPS believes that the key to alleviating rural poverty is to improve corn yields, thereby  improving the economy of Guatemala.   In cooperation with its partner DISAGRO, HELPS  devised a  corn program in the rural highlands of Guatemala which promises to bring real economic improvement to the region. 

The corn program follows these guidelines:

1. Each farmer will use newly developed corn seed ("new corn") from the  ICTA  to improve efficiency of growth.      

2.  Each farmer will sow only one seed every five inches, instead of  traditional multiple seeds, to ensure that the seed is not  competing for the same moisture and nutrition,. 

3. Each farmer will use the  correct amount of herbicides and fertilizers  to meet  the soil requirements.

4. Each farmer will learn to stop burning his fields, an environmentally destructive practice and actually harmful to the soil.

5. Each farmer will cultivate his field with the help of guidance from an "extension agent" in his local area.

6. Each farmer will communicate to the extension agent any problems or issues that arise throughout the crop year . 

In 2005, HELPS implememted these guidelines in the remote village of Santa Avelina, Quiché.  The "new corn" was deliberately planted two weeks late in the most marginal fields next to the  corn planted in the traditional way,  and the results were quickly obvious: