Many of the people living in a disputed area between Guatemala and Belize have to fend for themselves. So Oxfam Unwrapped trained 80 small farmers in cacao – cocoa – production and helped them develop their own plantations. Now they have a new crop – and a self-sufficient future.
This border region shared by Guatemala and Belize has a high percentage of Mayan populations living in extreme poverty. There is little in the way of telephone, electricity, or roads and hardly any government support for the people in terms of health, education, or food production.
When you’re not getting any help centrally, then self-sufficiency is the key. So for many years Oxfam has been supporting agricultural production and the trading of indigenous products, to help combat poverty and to strengthen market capacities of small farmers here.
Oxfam Unwrapped helped to get new producers up and running with their own cacao production businesses, having first established a link with a Fair Trade association in Southern Belize which has guaranteed access to markets in Europe.
So, set up with their own little businesses, given the training and tools to successfully grow a cash crop – and with a guaranteed buyer once the harvest is in. Tasty!