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Cause | Agros International
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Since 1982 Agros International has helped families in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Chiapas, Mexico build self-sustaining and thriving communities. Agros means ‘land’ in both Latin and Greek, and we work to provide landless, rural, poor families access to agricultural land, long-term credit, and training, so families are able to start, develop and eventually own an economically sustainable village.
Today, thousands of people who had lost hope are healing their scars and building a brighter future for themselves and their children. Families who for generations knew only war, cruelty, murder, and poverty are buying land, growing crops, and building homes. Remote mountain villages destroyed by war are constructing house-to-house water systems and latrines.
Soldiers who only knew how to kill are growing medicinal crops for their community. Parents who never had an education are building schools. Children who were born in refugee camps are dreaming of college. Families who were evicted and abused by cruel landowners now own their own productive and sustainable farms. Women who had no hope of escaping from abusive husbands have become entrepreneurs capable of supporting themselves and their children. Churches, communities, and people all over the United States are giving gifts that change people’s lives—and are being transformed themselves in the process.
Agros’ unique approach, based on empowerment through land loans and training, has helped thousands of Central American and Mexican families learn to dream again. For these families and villages, life will never be the same. Through Agros’ time-tested, practical assistance, they have gained the land and skills to build a better future.
After conferring with the Institute of Rural Development andthe local government, a group of farmers living in the Rivas area turned to Agros for help. They had been renting land from local farm-owners in order to grow the basic grains needed to sustain their families and were looking for a way to secure their own land. By owning their land, the families hoped to organize their own community and earn enough money to send their children to school. One of their strongest attributes as a group is that they are willing to share with one another and work together to secure a better future for them and their children.
The land, located roughly 12 miles from the nearest market, has two rivers, a forest, and a pasture on it. The families, all of whom have several years of experience in farming and agriculture, plan to use the pasture to raise livestock such as cattle and sheep. Furthermore, they will be able to use the rivers as a source of irrigation for their rice crops during the dry season. Along with raising livestock, the families plan to grow rice, beans, plantains, and sugarcane.
Projects planned for the 2008-2009 fiscal year include:
Values-based planning
Infrastructure projects including irrigation, roads, community center, housing, composting latrines and efficient cook stoves
Small and large livestock projects, including chicken and cattle
Adult literacy courses
Health-related discussions and workshops, including sexual and reproductive health
Agros changes lives.
Welcome to Agros For More Information
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