Carpenteros assist in providing seeds and fertilizer to farmers whose crops were destroyed by tropical storm
Farmers from the community of El Guanabano in the Olancho District of Honduras pick up their allotment of fertilizer and seeds. Coordinated by Diaconia Nacional, corn and bean seeds and fertilizer made available by the Government of Honduras is being distributed to nearly 200 farmers in nine communities, all of which were devastated by Tropical Depression #16 in October 2008. Distribution of the seeds and fertilizer, training, as well as administration and monitoring of the program was made possible through funding from The Carpenteros and Friends. In addition to assisting farmers in El Guanabano, where the Carpenteros helped to construct a water distribution system in 2005, the seed and fertilizer program is also helping farmers in El Ensinal, Ochoa, El Coyolar, Guancoca, Dos Quebradas, Los Charcos, El Carrizal and La Avispa. The value of the seed and fertilizer providing by the Honduran Government is estimated at $15,000, and participating farmers are expected to repay approx. $75-100 each to the local micro-credit cooperative at the end of the 2009 growing season.
After the storm the coordinators of the Agriculture and Environment program of Diaconia Nacional made a survey of the losses of crops in these communities and reviewed the damages to the crops. The purpose of this proposal is to help the people with the least resources in the communities. Diaconia Nacional has information about the levels of well-being of the people in several communities based on the program of Community Transformation. Taking this information into account, the beneficiaries were selected as the people in the lower levels of well being. It is worth noting that this disaster occurred some time ago and the response may seem to be delayed, but this timing is intentional. The process of completing surveys and evaluating the level of well being in all of the communities required a considerable investment of time and planning and was not completed until recently. Also, the effects of this disaster as felt by the communities are delayed. A disaster response project of food relief was considered just after the disaster, but it was decided that the most effective time to provide aid would be in the planting season when grains are scarce and the demand is high because of the need to plant. This delayed response is also preferred because it provides more opportunity for the Agriculture and Environment program to give technical assistance to small scale farmers and establishes a more collaborative relationship compared with a simple hand-out of food.
Description of the Proposed Project
At the beginning the Agriculture and Environment program of DN will help coordinate the delivery of materials, but the communities will pay for the transportation. At the point of transaction each producer will sign a contract to pay the value of the materials to a community credit union or in some cases to an agriculture loan fund operated by Diaconia Nacional
This government program requires that Diaconia give trainings to the producer groups and review the crops during the growing season. We will give three trainings to each group of producers on topics that meet the needs of the specific group such as soil conservation methods, soil fertility management, and alternatives to burning as a soil preparation. The topics chosen will fit in with the already established long-term goals of the Ag and Environment program in promoting more sustainable agriculture.
The DN coordinators will also visit the fields of each producer and document the progress of the crop (one visit after the crops have started to grow, and another near harvest time). This aspect will allow the coordinators to establish valuable relationships with each grower and give specific technical assistance.
