Estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), indicate the world population will exceed 9 billion people in 2050 and the demand for agricultural products will increase between 60 and 70%.
In Nicaragua, the agricultural sector represents 20% of the gross domestic product, and small farmers produce 90% of the basic foods consumed by the population, indicating the need and opportunity for small farms to continue expanding to feed their country, while agrobusiness continues to produce exports to shore up the weak economy.
At ViviendasLeon, agriculture is at the center of our 2023-24 agenda and its expansion through small farming as the solution to food insecurity while contributing to SDG 2, Zero hunger. We currently work with more than 60 families, almost all with women as heads of households, in two communities totaling 600 families in Nicaragua. These farms are contributing more than 50% of the fresh fruits and vegetables needed in their communities for diverse and healthy diets.
Not surprisingly, FAO estimates also show that women represent a substantial proportion of the agricultural labor force worldwide as food producers or agricultural workers, and that approximately two-thirds of the female labor force in developing countries is involved in agricultural work.
Melania Jacoba Quiroz: a member of the farming community:
“I have been working with ViviendasLeon in family farming since 2012. They have given me training with specialists and I have learned while doing the work. I have done well with my crops so far, while the training continues to help me develop my skills.
Over the past years I have planted chiltoma, tomato, chili, cucumber, beans, and taro root. My family now eats a wide variety of foods, and we earn enough to buy the other things we need.“
Melania Jacobo Quiroz
Cayetano Alberto, her husband
“Our vegetable production has created a better quality of life for us. We no longer go to the market in search of basic foods that we use such as tomatoes, chiltoma, cassava and more. Our family benefits and we benefit our community. We use the the profit from the vegetables that are sold for other household needs and expanding our business. We just recently invested in a tilapia fish production pond, a new small family project“
Cayetano Alberto