The families with whom Project Harvest works are within the segment of the rural population that is called extremely poor. Under normal conditions, when everything is in balance and when there are no droughts, floods or other natural disasters, families must carry out a seriesof precarious activities in order to survive.
Project Harvest empowers rural families to cultivate vegetable gardens that enable them to put more food on their tables and to draw in more cash income from the sale of extra produce. As well, Project Harvest empowers them to become organized so they can challenge the structures that keep them poor. The following tables show the impact that the additional Project Harvest vegetable garden has on the annual income of a poor, rural Guatemalan family:
Please Note: The value of the corn (10 qt. @$27.27= $272 and beans ($273) and the vegetables ($545) that families produce for their consumption, plus their income from the sale of vegetables ($575), plus cash income from other activities ($1,109) has a cash equivalent ± $2,774. This is still less than half (35.8 %) of the stated amount that a family needs for the Basic Food Basket ($7,750).
* National Statistics Institute of Guatemala (INE), 2018
** Half of bean crop and all of corn crop is for family consumption – it lasts about 6 months of year
*** Income for all cash expense