Support life-changing agriculture training for family farmers in Bolivia!

November 24, 2020

This Giving Tuesday, support life-changing agriculture training for farmers in Bolivia!

Support life-changing agriculture training for family farmers like the two in this image in Bolivia. Two smiling people stand in a field among crops and bushes. They're standing proudly with smiles on their faces.

Asunta Hinojosa and Demetrio Sayari Ojeda are farmers in a remote community called Ch’alla Ch’alla in Bolivia. These two farmers, and others like them who SeedChange supports with training opportunities, are lifelines for their communities during the hardships of COVID-19.

This Giving Tuesday you can support farmers like Asunta and Demetrio, who are helping their neighbours get enough food during the pandemic.

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How did Asunta and Demetrio become lifelines for their community?

For the past three years, Asunta and Demetrio worked with SeedChange to transform their small, low-producing farm into a bountiful, biodiverse haven of vegetables and fruits. They brought life back to their soil by switching to organic fertilizer. They can grow food all year long now, since constructing a sustainable irrigation system. And they learned to grow their own seeds.

“It is good to have your own seed because you no longer have to depend on anyone,” Demetrio said.

By the time the pandemic hit, they were producing nutritious food for themselves and a surplus to sell. They no longer relied on food trucked in from the city, so COVID-19 shutdowns haven’t caused them to suffer hunger.

But COVID-19 shutdowns have forced many people out of cities. Young people who have lost jobs, and even whole families are returning to communities like Ch’alla Ch’alla in search of safety and the comfort of home.

Weathered, strong hands hold four different coloured cobs of corn up to the camera. The corn is in focus and a woman's face and wide brimmed hat is out of focus in the background and partically blocked by the corn cobs. — *Asunta Hinojosa holds varieties of maize she now grows.*

They have little to come back to, Demetrio told us.

“They’ve been gone so long, their homes have fallen down. They need to plant crops quickly, but some don’t even have seeds.”

And they don’t have the farming skills Asunta and Demetrio have honed over the years.

“We know how to produce vegetables,” he said. “They don’t know, so we must help.”

Demetrio and Asunta are doing just that: helping.

One farmer in jeans and a collared short-sleeved shirt crouches on the ground of packet dirt. He grips a basket full of different coloured corn cobs and smiles at the camera. A second farmer is walking out the a doorway behind him. She wears a wide-brimmed hat, a short sleeved shirt, a knee-length skirt with a velour-like texture and tall patterned socks. She is looking at the farmer crouched on the ground and seems to be in the middle of saying something.

Giving back

These two farmers, and others like them, are lifelines to their neighbours during the pandemic. They’re sharing food from their harvests, and seeds to plant. To help them grow those seeds, they’re imparting the expertise they’ve developed working with SeedChange.

These farmers are the hearts of their communities—they’re keeping everyone alive.

This Giving Tuesday we’re inviting you to fund life-changing training for even more farmers like Asunta and Demetrio.

DONATE NOW

Thank you for supporting farmers at a time when their communities need them the most.

Let’s make sure communities have food, no matter what 2021 brings.