It was interesting to see how the people of Guatemala use every bit of space they can for farming. Some of the fields are on very steep hills and everything is done by hand: cultivating, planting, irrigating and harvesting.
Most of the farmers rent the land for their fields, and even though they work long hours, they barely make enough money to support their families.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Farming in Guatemala
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6 comments:
Really awesome photos, it is unfortunate they must work so hard on land they don't own and end still barely meet.
The landscape looks like a patchwork quilt. It is very picturesque
Thank you, the pictures definitely don't do the countryside justice, but I hope you get the idea. It was beautiful. The part I couldn't get over was how steep some of the field were.
Someone mentioned that in some fields, farmers will tie one end of a rope around a tree and the other around their waist while they work.
Very similar to how they do farming on hills in India. This is called 'step' farming because the fields are more or less like huge long steps.
The pictures look like very Indian. :)
Hi Cuckoo,
I googled images of step farming in India and the pictures were beautiful, especially one taken in Himachal.
I live in the Midwest, and most of the fields are very flat, and huge.
Great pictures and comments. Good insight too.
I work for an organization that helps the rural poor break out of that cycle of poverty by giving them a hand up. We help them buy land and to develop a sustainable village (typically of 30 +/- families).
We currently have 31 villages in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chiapas Mexico. Eight more are scheduled to start in the next year.
Anyway, if your heart is tugged at by the plight of those that have to work so hard and never get ahead, visit our website.
Thank you for visiting Rambling Traveler, Doug, and for the link to the Agros website. I've just started reading the site, but it sounds like Agros is doing wonderful things.
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