Despite the demands of a busy harvest season, 15 women from the hillside community of
Wibuse in Nicaragua’s Matagalpa Department still found time recently to gather at the
home of Bertha Adilia Jarquín. Their main interest was in sampling various food
preparations made from the soybeans that Bertha and other members of a local agricultural
research committee have been testing.
The committee has already selected and multiplied seed of improved maize
and bean varieties. So, now they’re searching for new opportunities to bolster local
food security, raise incomes, and protect natural resources.
Life has always been hard for these women. But a string of natural
disasters—Hurricane Mitch 3 years ago and more recently a severe drought—has
made it more difficult still. Nonetheless, they seem determined to get the best of these
ills by gaining new knowledge and organizing their community for change.
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