22 March 2012

Guatemala: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) just concluded a two-year project, implemented jointly with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), to reduce the impact of market volatility, natural disasters or the financial crisis on thousands of vulnerable families in the poorest areas of Guatemala. This project helped smallholder farmers’ organizations to boost the quality and productivity of their maize crops, improve their traditional agricultural systems and strengthen their marketing capacity in order to achieve food and nutrition security in Guatemala.

A set of manuals for farmers were developed to promote good agricultural practices such as greywater filtering, living fences and bokashi composting. The manuals, along with a 46-page summary of the lessons learnt in the area of seed capital for farmers, were designed and edited by UN Online Volunteer Beatriz García Gutiérrez, a Mexican graphic designer. Beatriz, who usually designs commercial products, appreciated the opportunity to use her skills to contribute to improving the situation of deprived communities in Guatemala.

“This project particularly interested me for two reasons.  First, it focused on eradicating one of the great problems of our world; hunger and malnutrition.  Second, as a project focused on a Latin American country, it increased my interest in being a part of it.”
-- Beatriz García Gutiérrez, UN Online Volunteer

The project positively impacted the nutritional status of 22,000 smallholder farmers and their families by raising their incomes, improving food supplies for the markets, and increasing small livestock production.

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Bio: Beatriz García Gutiérrez is a UN Online Volunteer who contributed her graphic design skills to an FAO project created to reduce the impact of market volatility, natural disasters or the financial crisis on thousands of vulnerable families in Guatemala.  Beatriz has a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and has worked in a number of design and advertising firms in Mexico, U.S.A. and France.