Sowing Opportunities is focused on the village of Chajmaic, Guatemala developing greenhouse agriculture for food security and livelihood.
We have an Event coming up in Malden, Massachusetts – Rescheduled date: Sunday, May 23th – for Earth Day!
We’re raising funds for training and supplies. Can you help?
Watch Sowing Opportunities’ 1-minute Earth Day video!
See Sowing Opportunities’ recent Neighborhood View article.
In early March 2021, Alfonso Gómez started a mini-greenhouse, planting Swiss chard, in the hopes of beginning a small greenhouse project.
However, it didn’t sprout because the people of Chajmaic didn’t have the on-site technical support. Sowing Opportunities is working on making that a reality, even incrementally. This is difficult to achieve because of the remoteness of the region.
As of Earth Day 2021, the people of Chajmaic are preparing the land and Sowing Opportunities is working actively to bring someone to provide support. This effort is in process.
The cost of bringing in a technical expert for one month of intensive training is $4,639, which includes $1,481 for travel (5 days), $818 for hotel and meals (30 days), and $2,340 for salary (30 days). This comes out to $19/hour (30 days @ 8 hours/day) for advice from Federico Arriola, Expert agronomist advisor. We intend to begin this work in Chajmaic in November 2021, after the rainy season ends in Guatemala. Here is the annual budget for the greenhouse workshop.
This is an example of Federico’s work after working for the past year in an area that was devastated by Volcán de Fuego (Chi Q’aq), Guatemala, when it erupted in April 2020:
Meanwhile, the people of Chajmaic are working to develop the land, and learn what they can on their own:
And the children enjoy the earth, as well!
