New Cold Storage Unit Warms
Hearts Of Guatemalan Farmers
(Media-Newswire.com)
CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala – An ongoing U.S.
Department of Agriculture-funded Guatemalan
Food for Progress project led by the Norman
Borlaug Institute for International
Agriculture is helping farmers in the
highland region of Chimaltenango by
establishing a new cold storage unit and
food processing training center.
The storage unit and training center were
established in response to food production,
processing and safety needs identified
through on-site project personnel working
with local farmers, community leaders and
others involved in agribusiness, said
Johanna Roman, coordinator for Latin
American programs with the Borlaug
Institute, part of the Texas A&M System.
"Since 2005, we have helped tens of
thousands of Guatemalan farmers, mainly
indigenous people, through different
USDA-funded Food for Progress projects,"
Roman said. "We're hoping this recent
addition of a cold storage unit and food
processing training center will help them
expand their ability to sell their products
locally and through export."
Roman said Borlaug Institute involvement in
the project has farmers in the central
Guatemalan highlands, as well as livestock
producers in Izabal and Peten and others
involved in agriculture in the southern
coastal region of Escuintla.
"We’ve been working to help increase farmer
knowledge and to help provide farmers with
access to new markets and technology,” she
said. “We’re hoping to help them improve
every link in the agricultural value chain,
including production processing, storage,
packaging, shipping and marketing."
Roman said previous Guatemalan Food for
Progress efforts led by the Borlaug
Institute have included the establishment of
food processing centers, an extensive
greenhouse and crop demonstration and
training garden facility, and biodiesel
production facilities.
Project efforts also have included extensive
education and training for thousands of
Guatemalan farmers, as well as community
leaders and agribusiness and agriculture
ministry representatives. Topics have ranged
from best agricultural practices, crop
rotation, irrigation, production, harvesting
and sound environmental techniques to fair
trade, micro-credit, product marketing, food
processing and safety, organic farming,
agroforestry and horticulture. Instruction
is typically provided in Spanish by AgriLife
Extension, Texas AgriLife Research and other
Texas A&M System experts, as well as experts
from local institutions and organizations.
"Through several Texas A&M student
organizations, we also helped bring the
Junior Master Gardener program, a youth
education program of the Texas AgriLife
Extension Service, to hundreds of teachers
and youth, including children in three
Guatemalan orphanages," she added. "This was
a way not only to build the children's
interest in horticulture, but also for them
to learn useful life skills and expand their
knowledge of math and science through a fun
and interesting program."
Roman said the new cold storage unit in San
Juan Compala was established as part of the
Food for Progress project's Agriculture in
Guatemala: Technology, Education and
Commercialization effort. It was added to a
small local post-harvest packing center to
help improve the livelihoods of members of
an area agricultural cooperative, the
Asociacion de Pequenos Agricultores
Comalapenses de Productos No Tradicionales (
Association of Small Farmers from Compala
Growing Non-traditional Products ). The new
cold storage facility will benefit 125
farmers of the association, and will provide
additional economic benefits for the
community at large.
The main products packed at the center are
blueberries, snow peas and baby vegetables,
which are also exported to several
countries.
"We saw that the center needed support in
strengthening its cold-chain system,
improving food safety and expanding their
cold storage capabilities," said Vanessa
Salazar, the program leader overseeing
enhancements to both the post-harvest center
and the food processing training center in
Chimaltenango.
Along with the cold storage unit,
beneficiaries received a series of trainings
on food safety, Roman said. And with the
support of AGTEC, the association's packing
plant was able to receive GlobalGap
certification after completion of food
safety training.
The GlobalGap standard is based on food
production through good agricultural
practices which reduce the negative
environmental impact of farming operations
and demonstrate a concern for worker health
and safety.
While the new food processing center at the
Central de Estudios Cooperativos Training
Center in Chimaltenango has been operating
since February, an official opening ceremony
was held April 23 and attended by
representatives of the USDA Foreign
Agriculture Service-Guatemala, the training
center and El Instituto Tecnico de
Capacitacion y Productividad, Guatemala's
national training institute.
"We remodeled one of the existing rooms at
the farmer training center and brought in
food processing equipment for the purpose of
hands-on demonstration and training," said
Salazar.
She said both local and national training
entities are already offering training
programs at the center, and project
instructors have been training farmers and
agriculture students on new food product
development and food safety.
Salazar, who is conducting a series of
courses at the center as an AGTEC food
processing expert, said the educational
component will benefit hundreds of area
farmers.
"Some of the new food products being
developed at the center are baked goods,
fruit jams and hot sauces," she said. "And
the training center will also be used to
offer training programs to Mayan men and
women who want to become part of the
restaurant and food service industries."
“This food processing facility is a great
contribution to the community, and the
instruction provided will help improve
small-scale food processing of the
participants," said Linda Eilks, the USDA
agricultural attache who inaugurated the
center in April.
Having taught the Master Food Preserver
Program for the Illinois Extension Service,
Eilks said she was impressed with the
caliber of the facilities.
“In a teaching facility like this, the
quality of the equipment and facilities are
important, but more important is that the
instructors teach the students not only
proper food preparation methods, but to
constantly keep in mind the safe handling of
food,” she said.
Roman noted that much of the credit for
these new efforts, as well as the previous
work done in Guatemala, should also be given
to Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize
laureate and world-renowned "father of the
green revolution" for whom the Borlaug
Institute was named. Borlaug was a
distinguished professor of international
agriculture at Texas A&M from 1984 until his
death last year.
"We also need to thank Dr. Borlaug for
inspiring us to help the farmers of
Guatemala in the same way he helped others
in countries throughout the world fight
hunger and increase food security during his
lifetime," she said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
