Upcoming Goals for the Tanhoc Project

Heightened Agricultural Focus

Over the initial years of the Tanhoc Project, our focus has been to engage as many members of the community in any form of education of their choosing. Over the past six months, we have begun to notice a considerable commitment to education from the community. Whereas we will continue to consolidate and build on those gains, the time is ripe to give added emphasis to agricultural issues. There are three specific areas of interest:

• Small-scale, low-tech irrigation systems, such as sand dams. The inability to manage water effectively restricts the variety and yield of crops, while denying farmers any competitive advantage.
  
  
• Small-scale, low-tech storage facilities, including granaries. The need to dispose of agricultural produce immediately, to avoid spoilage, coincides predictably with the lowest period of market values.
  
  
• Greater integration and diversification of agricultural products with market opportunities and with ecological “fit”. A better understanding of economic niches will be investigated, as well as the suitability of specific products (bamboo, rabbits, ornamentals, breadnut, vegetables, etc.).

Land Ownership

Although Tanhoc is incorporated legally as an agricultural cooperative, it requires a clearer regulatory scheme for the apportionment and use of land among its members. This will become even more important once the payment for the land to the government’s Land Fund (FONTIERRAS) is completed. An extensive community consultation, coupled with the creation of a legal structure for land management, will be undertaken.

Goals for the Use of Funding

• Employment of literacy educators, thereby liberating our Pueblo Partisans - Guatemala Rural Coordinator to devote himself to agricultural issues, his area of expertise.
  
  
• Use of consultants and field trips to target technologies, markets, products, economic networks, etc.
  
  
• Legal consultation on land management.
  
  
• Improved transportation to address related concerns with nearby Q’eqchi’ agricultural cooperatives.