Lifted from Poverty by Oregano

A project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in rural Bolivia has improved the lives of more than 1,000 poor families, providing them with a cash income, access to education, and new hope for the future!

In 2003, Flavio Duran, a small farmer living near the village of Tomina, in rural Bolivia, had virtually no source of income. Tomina lies in a very mountainous region of Bolivia that can be very wet during the rainy season (November to March) but very hot and dry for the rest of the year.

Like two out of every three Bolivians, Flavio was living in poverty. He owned some land where he and his family grew enough food to live on and a little bit more to sell, but there were no buyers for his produce, as most small farmers in the area grew the same crops.

SOCODEVI, a Canadian non-governmental organization that has worked in Bolivia for more than 20 years, decided to try to help Flavio and other small farmers look at the possibility of diversifying into new crops. With support from CIDA and working in collaboration with AGROCENTRAL, an existing farmers' cooperative in the area, SOCODEVI carefully investigated the growing climate and potential markets for alternative crops. It was discovered that oregano had a lot of potential, especially since it can be grown and harvested up to three times a year.

Many in the area thought the idea of growing oregano was preposterous, but Flavio was eager to try something new. Today, with the help of his older daughters, he is a successful oregano farmer! In addition to his small crops of potatoes, corn and onions-still the family's main source of food-part of his land (approximately 1,500 square metres) is now devoted to growing oregano.

By the summer of 2008, almost 1,000 farmers in 93 communities spanning eight municipalities in southeast Bolivia were also growing oregano for cash, earning, on average, an extra $205 per year.Says Flavio: "I can now buy food such as rice and cooking oil, buy clothes for the children, and send them to school-I could not do this before!"

With Canadian funding, a testing and production facility was also built in Tomina. This is where the oregano seedlings are grown and the oregano processed for sale to Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Further market research and testing are under way to expand production to other herbs such as thyme, cumin, and anise, as well as to essential oils derived from those plants.

Growing oregano not only provides a necessary cash income for many subsistence farmers, in many cases it provides paid employment for family members who work on the family farm, planting, tending, and harvesting the crop. Other family members work at the testing and production site in Tomina, where 60 percent of the employees are women, now able to contribute an income to the family as well.

In 2006, SOCODEVI won the Canadian Award for International Cooperation for Building Capacity of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Developing Countries and Countries in Transition for this project, and AGROCENTRAL is presently known as a leading producer and exporter of oregano in South America.