GUATEMALA, PREVENTION AND FOOD AGAINST CORONAVIRUS

Redazione

29/05/2020

In Guatemala, Mani Tese is active in the Chiquimula department to fight hunger, aggravated by long droughts, and to improve the sanitation conditions of the communities.

Unfortunately, in recent months, the already critical situation in the country has worsened with the arrival of the Coronavirus, which has led to infections and deaths, but above all more hunger and poverty due to the blocking of work activities.

However, the project “Fight against malnutrition in the Chiquimula department” did not stop, on the contrary, efforts were made to support families in the area.

First of all, manuals were given to the leaders of the intervention communities to educate on the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. In fact, the manuals explain what a virus is, what Coronavirus specifically is, what symptoms it causes, which people are most exposed to the risk of contagion, how the infection occurs, how to do prevention in the community and which are the natural plants for relieve cough and flu.

Later, agricultural production was also thought of and therefore the food sustenance of the community.

The beneficiaries of the portion of agroecological land belonging to the Dos Quebradas and Lantiquin intervention communities were in fact given a package to improve production. The package contained seeds and small plants, in detail:

fruit trees: Persian lemon, mandarin orange, washington orange, mango de brea, avocado, mamey, gambuta, nance, mango tommy, jocote and cashew;
trees: mahogany, cypress, pine, aripin, cedar and white wood, chili seeds, jalapeño pepper, cucumber and tomato, pilones de loroco;
medicinal plants: rue, apasote, sage, altamis and oregano, creole corn and bean seeds, estacones de madrea cacao and sacks of vermicompost.

The package was prepared jointly with the beneficiaries of each plot based on their experiences, preferences and the adaptability of the plants.

The sowing process of the trees and medicinal plants was successfully carried out according to the model previously established between CUNORI, the technical team and the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries collaborated in the soil preparation process by planting trees spaced apart so that they take the necessary light for better growth and development, creating lanes to prevent soil erosion and weeding, i.e. removing unwanted weeds. Now the first rains are expected.

The beneficiary families were then also delivered some silos made with smooth zinc sheets with a capacity of 12 quintals which will be used to carry out the storage of cereals.

Here are some photos of the delivery of the manuals on Covid-19 and of the production packages.