Three hours on horseback from the closest town, Miguel Pineda is generating income and improving the economic stability of his community by tapping into a key resource of his rural village: cocoa.
Pineda, 26, began producing cocoa in 2014 and has since dedicated himself to honing his skills to better provide for his family and share knowledge with his neighbors in El Bambú, in the Southern Caribbean Coast region of Nicaragua.
As part of his desire to learn, Pineda enrolled in a course in cocoa agronomy developed through USAID’s Aprendo y Emprendo project. The week-long course combined workshops with hands-on experience and allowed students to visit and learn from cocoa growers in surrounding areas, picking up new management practices and identifying opportunities for improvement.
For Pineda, the course was a new experience and a spark that ignited an enthusiasm for developing his technical skills and perfecting the production process.
“Seeing how other producers do it, I realized that I could improve things,” he says. “I encouraged myself to start a new phase of devel-opment and growth.”
Pineda, with his brothers and nephews, work the eight acres of land they have dedicated to cocoa to provide for their family. Pineda’s most recent harvest of nearly 950 pounds of cocoa earned $315.
Cocoa production has expanded significantly over the past several years and has the potential to transform livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the region. According to the Association of Producers and Exporters of Nicaragua, less than 1 ton of cocoa was produced in the region 10 years ago. Today, 5,000 tons are produced, and 10 years from now, the region could produce 42,000 tons.
The Aprendo y Emprendo project, which aligns its programming closely with the private sector and in-demand industries, developed the cocoa agronomy course with Injemann, a company that works to increase cocoa productivity.
“These kinds of initiatives help improve the expectancy and quality of life in rural areas, helping persuade youth not to migrate to cities looking for opportunities to improve their lives or to just follow the same vicious cycle that many others have,” says Jairo Blanco, Coordinator of Production and Commercialization at Injemann.
Pineda and 35 other young people from the area recently completed the course and are applying what they learned in their own communities.
In El Bambú, Pineda and 14 other young people came together to establish a cocoa collection facility, where they clean and process cocoa from nearby smallholder farmers and transport it to cooperatives. They also use the facility as a meeting space to share knowledge, helping each other become more productive. With the collection center and their collective knowledge, these young people are becoming leaders in growing their community’s economy.
Contact: Janey Fugate, JaneyF@CreativeDC.com