Alimentos Nutri-Naturales S.A.
In a small community around Petén lies a small business run, owned and operated by 20 or so women. These women buy ramon seed from the local areas around Peten and the Reserve, and with their collected seeds will dry, toast, and grind the products into what will eventually become ramon cookies, ramon flour, and a ramon hot beverage which has a similar taste and function to coffee.
This business was established in 2005 with the help of the Mayan Institute- an NGO based out of Colorado which trains women to become local entrepreneurs utilizing the local Ramon products as its base.
As more people began hearing about this business opportunity to utilize a local product which could help feed their families, more women wanted to join. In addition to the 20 or so women in the business, ANSA pays about 300 other women from surrounding areas to collect Ramon seed to help manufacture Ramon products. These collectors are paid around 2 quetzales per pound.
For these women, collecting Ramon is their only way to earn money for their family. As these women work out in the Reserve to collect these Ramon nuts into their baskets, sometimes working long hours through the tropical heat, this money earned for this type of work is helping pay for their children’s education and health expenses. In some ways, the ramon seeds are what is breaking the “poverty traps” for these families while the money earned in sales will ensure better sustainability of conserving the forest.
In addition to economic goals, ANSA wants to see the ramon seed integrated into school lunches and to also improve their children’s nutrition. “Our dream is to see the ramon seed in the school system and flourish, providing a strong and healthy product for our children.”
ANSA has also gone on to partner with Teccino to supply them with the seeds twice a season when the fruit ripen just right and fall to the ground. The harvest of these nuts goes into producing Teccino’s Maya line of herbal coffee which has brought home income to over 500 families in the Reserve.
Just imagine. An enterprise that started from a tree planted 2000 years ago that is the livelihood of a community. In someone’s backyard is where a fortune will be made.
To learn more, click on this link
Comments