Educampo Mayab: Transforming the lives of Mexican farmers

For Clemente Camaal Domínguez, a corn grower in the Yucatan province of Mexico, the fields have never yielded more. “I am getting double the production,” he said. “I used to get two tons per hectare and now I get four. I also started planting soybeans, and I am getting three tons per hectare."

That wealth didn’t come out of nowhere. Clemente is one of the more than 200 farmers spread out over 7 municipalities and 25 locations in Yucatan who were involved in Educampo Mayab, a program that helped the participating growers learn sustainable farming techniques and set up cooperatives, giving them an opportunity to prosper in the marketplace.

It all began five years ago, when Cargill partnered with the Mexican Foundation for Rural Development (Educampo). The goal was to support smallholder farmers in Yucatan province, a grain-producing region. At the outset, they were low in income, but high in opportunity. All they needed to boost their quality of life was some sound business advice and the right education.

With that in mind, Educampo Mayab, Cargill Mexico’s flagship corporate responsibility program, worked with the farmers to build a curriculum that offered them basic education as well as training on best agronomic practices and the use of technology. With better knowledge, they would be able to increase their productivity and gain better access to local and regional markets.

Five years later, the farmers have graduated from the program and they are ready to make their own way. "My quality of life has improved a lot,” said Francisco Madera Mena, president of the farmer cooperative Productores Unidos Maiceros de Opichen Yucatán. “Now we can live more comfortably. If we have a health problem we have a little money that allows us to solve it, and we can pay for our kids’ studies."

Achieving goals through better yields

Over five years, the farmers worked closely with multidisciplinary teams of agronomists, adult educators, field managers and even psychologists. Every 15 days, the experts visited the farming communities to give real-time advice on how to best tend to the growing crops and lead workshops for groups of farmers.

As a result, yields and incomes improved markedly. Yields per hectare went from averages between 800 and 1,200 kilograms to 4,000 kilograms. Thanks to the business skills they learned and the cooperatives they formed, farmers were able to negotiate better prices for their crops and buy fertilizer and supplies cheaper, reducing their costs by up to 30 percent. Today, they have surpluses they can channel to markets, and profits for their crops have risen significantly.

"With Educampo Mayab, we have managed to work in a more efficient way,” said farmer Francisco Madera. “We have formed a cooperative, so we are on stronger legal footing. Because we are obtaining more income from the sale of our product, we have been able to buy a tractor that allows us to reduce costs even more. That means that our families are much better off now.”

For Rodolfo May Caamal, the boost in his farm’s income became very tangible when he was able to buy his first family car. “Now we can meet our mobility needs,” he said. Because the program helped them save costs, Educampo Mayab partcipants were able to buy tractors that helped them work even more efficiently.  

Next chapter

Along with skills, the program also promoted sound business and transparency practices. Partnering with Cargill as well as the Mexican Foundation for Rural Development meant a double commitment for the farmers. Cargill’s regular field visits helped them to stay on track and meet their targets. But as the farmers grew more skilled and confident, they formed autonomous work groups and started doing more and more by themselves.

Now that they’ve completed the program, the farmers are closing a very successful chapter in their journey towards greater prosperity. But as the next chapter starts for the 200 farmers who participated in Educampo Mayab, they expressed the hope that other growers would be able to start a first chapter of their own.  

"Of course I would like the program to continue,” said Francisco Madera. “As we are moving forward, there are many people who need to receive this type of advice, so they can improve their living conditions, too.”