Gladys, at 35 made the decision to grow corn, despite the fact she had a lot of factors going against her. For one, growing corn is considered “man’s work” in Honduras. For another, farming in Eastern Honduras is difficult, with long dry summers interspersed with heavy rains and floods.
Gladys didn’t let any of that change her mind, however.. Like 80 other women farmers in the community of Santa Maria, she’s facing the risks with the help of the Purchase for Progress (P4P) programme. The program was launched on April 13, 2010, and the project is providing Gladys with tools and training she can use to increase her corn production.
What is P4P?
Purchase for Progress builds on World Food Program's (WFP) policy of buying food close to where it is needed. As well as providing small farmers with a guaranteed buyer, it also gives them the means and the know-how to gain access to markets.
“With what I am able to produce on my two acres of land, I am able to support my parents and my son,” she said.
Purchase for Progress
Nornally, small Honduran farmers have had to rely mainly on middle men known as “coyotes” to buy their produce. Cornered into accepting rock-bottom prices, they’ve had little incentive to grow any more than they need, a sorry situation that keeps them poor and leaves them vulnerable to food shortages.
P4P helps to break the cycle by offering growers fair market prices for their crops and providing them with the training and tools they need to grow more. WFP then uses that food to help other Hondurans in need, a win-win situation for everyone involved.
“My harvest has really improved with the training and supplies they gave us,” says Gladys. “With this support from P4P, I want to continue growing produce,” she said.
Broadening scope
Following the April launch, P4P this year should help over 6,000 small Honduran growers turn out bigger harvests of better quality food and command fairer prices for them on the market.
Working together with the NGO partners and with generous contributions from the European Union and the Howard Buffet Foundation, WFP hopes to expand the P4P program to 11,300 small famers in Honduras by 2011.
