Organic Farming Transforming Guatemala Communities

CBN's Operation Blessing International is helping people in Guatemala grow tasty organic vegetables -- food to nourish their families and to sell in the market.

The farming techniques the aid group teaches can literally revolutionize a low-income agricultural community.

Isabel and her children maintain a flourishing vegetable garden at their home in Antigua, Guatemala.

Operation Blessing International leaders worked with an agricultural expert to teach Isabel and others organic and space-saving farming techniques.

Upscale restaurants prefer organic vegetables, which enhance their menus and their profits.

Isabel is overcome with emotion when she thinks about how much her life has changed.
    
"God uses people to help others, and you never imagine who's going to come to your house and say, 'Here are some plants -- help yourself,'" Isabel said. "And the truth is God is so big because I see this, and I say 'Thank You, Lord because You have sent them to my home.'" 
   
Operation Blessing opened an agricultural laboratory in Guatemala where local farmers learn techniques such as raised beds, which prevent plants from reaching soil with small bugs that eat the roots.

Aid workers also teach farmers how to build vertical walls that save space and hold the moisture so a small amount of water grows their vegetables quickly.

They also teach farmers how to maintain a precisely controlled watering environment.

At Operation Blessing's laboratory, they use drip irrigation, but at the smaller family farms, owners can use cups to water their plants.
 
"The training is where it all starts," Operation Blessing President Bill Horan explained. "Once they're trained, then they can adapt to whatever their own circumstances are."
 
Karla had no room for a traditional garden, so she's applying the techniques to grow vegetables in the alley/entryway to her home.
 
"First of all, thank God who gave me the opportunity to be here, and secondly, thank them because they give us the opportunity to grow the plants in our own home and feed our children," Karla said.
 
Operation Blessing International helps feed the hungry around the world. Using these new farming techniques in Guatemala as a model, the humanitarian organization hopes more families can triumph over hunger for a lifetime.