Vegetables, rural production and prices

To understand the increasing cost of food security and diet for the people, it is worth reflecting on the reality of Guatemala’s peasants. Also, about the loneliness of the various projects that find themselves isolated and trying to support them. These have failed to successfully cope with the wave of profits and unfavorable – and perhaps perverse – commerce surrounding the disintegration of the Guatemalan peasant model.

It turns out that one of the biggest problems facing producers here and in Timbuktu is related to the marketing of the harvest, which is often perishable, and the exploitation of producers by buyers, collectors and others (mostly in the absence of production) for whom there is no well-established network or channel of contacts.

Let us remember that in agricultural societies, the direct and indirect effects of growth are those that affect poverty reduction. John Mellor, a North American expert who has advised USAID projects in countless developing countries, insists on strengthening public investment, jointness and direct intervention policies that revolve around the realities of production and transformation of Mother Earth.

For example, Guatemalan agricultural producers face an environment of liberalization and free trade agreements. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to harness their strengths and institutionalize continuous improvements in physical infrastructure while building and strengthening institutions that continue to significantly reduce costs through technological change; that is, the cultural practices of producers.

In these structural changes, the quality of the economic cabinet and fiscal and spending policies is crucial. In addition, according to the Municipal Code itself, the mayor must manage the so-called Economic Development, Natural Resources and Tourism Committee, which includes the equally important Office of the Environment and Climate Change.

Even for North American experts advising Guatemala on international technical cooperation projects, the new vision is focused on increasing heritage in what is often referred to as technical terms: Public goods. In this sense, all those silly visions of building infrastructure just to pay for it are out of context with rural producers and the mass economy.

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Experts say that currently the income of the poor comes mainly from non-agricultural activities. However, in the case of food, in major agricultural areas, such as the case of Almolonga, agriculture is a source of demand for goods and services produced by other non-agricultural sectors. Therefore, Guatemala’s agricultural areas must be supported directly and wisely. At this time, this requires good research and testing of inputs that contain the expected profits of peasant producers, as well as trade and distribution.

Then it is important to study and treat this call. Small agricultural propertywhich offers a great opportunity to fight poverty. The challenge is how to organize it properly to be internationally competitive, because the positive impact here is much greater than the large agricultural properties of plantations, which are expanding in the future model of sugar, palm and avocado, eager to gain access to markets hot dog and Super Bowl Going to America in the style of the Michoacan model.

In the specific case of horticulture, this vision “a la Mellor”, – This is not inconsistent with free trade agreements and modernization, nor with public-private alliances related to agricultural production and monetization – there needs to be significant technological investment to support producers to specialize in a few important crops, rather than moving, by chance, into different market sectors. Then there needs to be good indications of what should be done in terms of feeding people at home and abroad.

Then there are the following basic suggestions:

• Expanding the stock of physical infrastructure (roads, sanitary drainage, irrigation systems, water treatment, solid waste management, etc.).

• Expanding the research legacy of agricultural production improvements

• Improving the educational process for new technology management

• Promote export markets without predatory contracts; that is, increase producers’ profitability in product marketing and eliminate collusion.

• Agricultural finance, insurance and other supporting activities

Then there is a path of opportunity, but it requires planning and support. For example, dry season irrigation becomes a fundamental issue given the short sowing-harvest cycle of most legumes. The energy factor is fundamental. A region like Almolonga-Zunil should have enough projects related to geothermal energy and energy efficiency, as the region has a comparative advantage of a good climate for agricultural production and enviable energy resources.

Here are some thoughts to properly understand where the queen bee of the problem is, rather than in the sores surrounding it.