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The producer, Inocencio Ceberino Hernandez,
during the first year working with the MCA-Nicaragua,
received the support to plant four manzanas of
cassava and six manzanas during the second year.
In addition, in June of this year, he will
cultivate three and a half manzanas of cassava.
His earnings are destined to cultivate four new
manzanas of this item and basic grains, and meet
some of the needs of his grandchildren. |
Two
years have elapsed since the yucca producer, Inocencio
Ceberino Hernandez Arauz, decided to take new challenges
and change his life, following the motivation of the
other producers in the community “Las Brisas”, in the
Department of Leon, that like himself, are exporters of
yucca today.
Before working together in the search for new profitable
and sustainable alternatives, the majority of the
producers of this community didn’t have a business view
in regards to the production of cassava nor had managed
the crops and they sold it at the price imposed by the
intermediaries.
“Before, the cassava was paid at US$0.75 cents per
sack, so I preferred to give it to the cattle. The
production was between 40 and 120 quintals per manzana;
then, the price increased from US$1 to US$2”, remembered Ceberino, one of the 110 cassava producers
working with the Millennium Challenge Account, MCA-Nicaragua,
during the last two years.
During the first year working with the MCA-Nicaragua,
this producer learned the importance to use fertilizers
and to clean the land when farming, labor that was never
carried out before; the crops yielded from 180 quintals
per manzana sold at US$10 per quintal, “a good
price”, remarked the producer and now is being paid at
US$8.5 at local market price.
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The
cart, the cows, the horses and the plough that
Ceberino has bought with his earnings will serve
his daughter, Yahaira Jeannette Arauz Perez, who
is a new member of the second cycle of
assistance provided by the MCA-Nicaragua to the
cassava producers, by means of the agricultural
operator, Chemonics. |
With his earnings in 2007 and with part of the crops in
2008, he gained approximately US$4,800 and,
with the profits, he bought a cow, two oxen, a cart, a
mare, a plough and two backpacks to fumigate. For
Inocencio and his wife, the most important dream came
true when, with the earnings, they were able to build
their humble house.
Ceberino has already received the allowances from the
MCA-Nicaragua during the first two-year cycle; however,
he guarantees to be prepared to maintain the levels of
production with the necessary capital in order to invest,
on his own account, with the establishment of new plots
of land, in addition to the new contracts that he has
entered with new cassava producers in “Las Brisas” and
other neighboring communities, with the support of the
MCA-Nicaragua, thus having the guarantee to sell his
crop at a good price.
The producers are exporting fresh cassava and, recently,
they started to export peeled cassava to Honduras which
is creating employment in the rural communities and has
allowed maintaining a competitive price.
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