Utz Ché, Working From the Ground Up
TWP has partnered with Utz Ché, a network of over 40 communities and collectives in Guatemala, since 2012. Utz Ché means “good tree” in the Mayan language, K’iche’, and the organization represents approximately 200,000 people throughout the country, more than 90% of them Indigenous.
Amongst other community forestry, conservation, and gender equity efforts, TWP has collaborated with Utz Ché to develop the Agricultura Familiar Sostenible (Sustainable Family Agriculture) program (AFS). Engaging farmer-to-farmer learning, use of heirloom species, and agroecology practices, the program aims to promote local food sovereignty through revitalization of Mayan ancestral knowledge.
After the first 5-year cycle of the AFS program concluded in 2022, Utz Ché carried out evaluations with participating families to better understand what was working well, and what could be improved in the coming 5 years. Many families shared that use of chemical fertilizers was an ongoing burden on their income, and on their local waterways.
Utz Che responded with a new focus on bioinsumos, or bio-inputs, as a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. Made from locally-available materials including manure, plants, and microorganisms collected from forest soils, bioinsumos boost soil fertility in crops and gardens while reducing the economic burden and environmental impact of chemical inputs.
“I have been applying it [bioinsumos] in my coffee plantation, and now I’m also applying it in my garden. And I’m seeing a result because the plants don’t have blemishes ... .Although before I did use chemicals, now I’m stopping because I want to see the result without them. And because buying them is a big cost…”
– Santos Castro, Las Maravillas Women’s Group Leader, Piedras Negras
With Utz Ché’s training and support, management of bioinsumos in participating cooperatives has been led primarily by women leaders, who help share knowledge of its production and application with other families. Leaders in the community of Piedras Negras, for example, plan to construct a central biofabrica (biofactory) to distribute bioinsumos to the broader community as their production expands.
“I came to this all with excitement, because what I saw is that they [other participants] weren’t using chemicals in what they were preparing. And the plants were looking perfect, as if they had been using chemicals… From when we first got here and began to work, we haven’t wanted to use chemicals, only natural things.”
– Romelia Castro Mateo, Flor del Café Women’s Group Leader, La Ceibit
From the time many of these communities relaid their roots, following decades of civil war and forced displacement in Guatemala, they’ve held the intent to rebuild lives and to care for the land in ways that last generations. Bioinsumos are just one piece of Utz Ché’s work towards this balance — we are consistently inspired by their values, and their continued commitment to living them out.