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Guatemala

The right to adequate food

© Mike Kolllöffel

Sustainable agriculture

The vast majority of people in rural areas are dependent on cultivating grains such as corn and beans, mainly for own consumption. The small and very specialized production makes them highly vulnerable to climatic conditions and market prices. DanChurchAid supports organisations providing technical assistance in sustainable agriculture. They are training farmers in improving their agricultural techniques and diversifying their production so that they can produce more for own consumption and sale. They also assist women in establishing vegetable gardens and helping them improve their nutrition.

Alternative sources of income

Only about two percent of the rural population has access to micro credit loans which can be used for developing non-agricultural activities as a supplement to the traditional agricultural production. Women generally engage in various activities to generate income, but they have little access to financial resources. With micro credit loans, training and technical assistance to women for setting up handcraft activities or small enterprises, women’s status and participation in social and economic life is supported at the same time as promoting food security for them and their families.

Access to land and other productive resources

Food security is not only a matter of production techniques and alternative sources of income. At the core of the problem are inappropriate agricultural development policies and the unequal distribution of resources, such as land suitable for agricultural production. Due to very limited political will to carry through land reforms, some few big farms control a large part of the land, while the majority have no land or small plots of low quality that can barely support a family’s own consumption. DanChurchAid is supporting advocacy work for land reforms and for solving the many land conflicts derived from the lack of an efficient and fair system of land distribution, registration and titling.