Plenty Bulletin

A soyfood preparation and nutrition education workshop led by ADIBE staff member, Elena Xoquic.

Well attended nutrition class.

Planting soy in new plot.

In 1979 Plenty and the community of San Bartolo near the town of Solola collaborated to plan and build a “soy dairy” to produce high-protein soy foods for their community. Today this soy production facility, managed by the Mayan community development organization ADIBE, employs 8 people and still produces soy milk, ice cream, tofu and other products for sale locally and nationally.

In 2006 Plenty and ADIBE’s Village Model Food and Nutrition project was begun. The goal of the VMFNP is to improve family nutrition intake and community food security in rural Mayan villages in and around Solola, by encouraging the production and increased use of soybeans and other locally available high nutrient foods. To implement the project, ADIBE staff formed collaborations with six other community based organizations to complete 41 soy food production, processing and nutrition education workshops in 17 villages within the district of Solola in 2006.

Collaborating organizations included the agriculture school in Solola; FEDEPMA (Federaciòn del Pueblo Maya en Santiago Atitlàn); ADENISA en San Pedro La Laguna; Asociaciòn de Ancianos y niños de San Lucas Tolimàn; ADIP (Asociaciòn de Desarrollo Integral Pauleño) San Pablo La Laguna; Comitè Central Femenino del Barrio San Bartolo Molino Belèn; ANACAFE; Asociaciòn de Mujeres Palestinecas and several smaller groups of women and farmers working to address local health care, food production, water, education and family credit needs within the project area. A total of 844 parents (mostly women) participated in the workshops.

At the workshops ADIBE representatives, using culturally appropriate educational materials, help participants increase their understanding of the nutritional needs of their children and how those needs can be met with the right combination of local foods. A soy food processing specialist from ADIBE helped all participants to learn how to prepare soy foods, and include these within traditional foods and meals. A series of three workshops were carried out in most of the seventeen villages, to reinforce the information presented. ADIBE staff also distributed soybeans to interested participants. Four more workshops were completed in August 2007.

Four soybean agriculture workshops were part of the project in ’06. These resulted in 8 groups of women and men within 4 different communities planting approximately 8.25 acres of soybeans for the first time. Other participants have experimented with planting a few soybean seeds in their gardens to see how they grow. Eight additional agriculture workshops were completed in August 2007.

The project has stimulated alot of interest among the target population. ADIBE is receiving a number of inquiries from individual families, community organizations, the local agriculture school, and government health and education representatives to help them implement similar soy production and processing education activities. Overall the VMFNP has involved and encouraged hundreds of people to learn more about good family nutrition and practical, local, low cost ways to enhance their traditional diets, alleviate malnutrition and improve family food security within their economically disenfranchised rural communities. It has helped empower local indigenous women who have joined together with others in their communities to learn and discuss problems related to food security, nutrition, water, health and hygiene. The VMFNP has also provided many farming families with seeds and technical assistance they need to begin growing, harvesting and using high nutrient beans and related products.

Our sincere thanks to the Rudolph E. Futer Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County for their generous financial support to this project. Thanks also to Plenty’s Guatemala Field Representative, Humberto Jorge Gonzalez.

From Jorge Gonzales, Plenty representative in Guatemala: