Our strong “drying” fan (that we use inside to dry our wet clothes) is being used to separate the sesame seeds from the trash left from the threshing done in the fields. The seeds will then be re-bagged to go to the sesame processing plant for cleaning, polishing the husks off the seeds, inspecting, and bagging for transport and shipping.
COPROEXNIC’s Board of Directors* and management rented acres of land this crop season and planted sesame trying to guarantee enough product to fulfill the contracts that the farmers made with the buyers… buyers who take a risk with these farmers of small farms. Mike is on their board and he has been donning his boots and hat to tromp through the fields to see how it is all going.
Several of the CDCA staff who are also members of COPROEXNIC are participating in the growing process as well… trying to make a little more money to take home as costs in Nicaragua slowly rise.
So far, we anticipate a good sesame yield; the problem is financing. Taking risks with the poor is rarely done, and those who do so are angels – well, I was going to say “in suits” but the ones we know – in jeans.
Think of all the bail-outs that have gone to banks… what would have happened if instead of giving the banks bail-outs for the rich to keep getting richer, if the bail-outs went to the poor? Bailing out people who lost their homes? Bailing out farmers who lost their land? Bailing out people who go bankrupt from medical bills?
For some reason giving “hand-outs” to the rich is acceptable but to the poor, not. Taking risks with the rich even when they take and take and take and give little back is “good business” but to the poor, not.
The farmers here NEED financing and they work extremely hard to grow organically to take care of the consumers’ health, their own health, their land, and our environment. If you can help, please contribute or loan to the Vida Fund, a risk sharing invest fund.
-Kathleen
*COPROEXNIC is a cooperative of small organic farmers, with whom we have been working for twenty years.
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