Doña Prudencia Ramos: A Success Story

The story of Dona Prudencia Ramos and her family's rise from poverty with the help of the Benson Institute

 

As a widowed mother of six, Doña Prudencia Ramos of Pinalito, a small Guatemala community, hardly imagined the improvements her family would experience. Her home is situated in a remote, mountainous area near Chiquimula. Her education is limited. Before joining other families in the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute and the University of San Carlos (USAC) Family Self-Sufficiency Program in 1991, the Ramos family lived on meager earnings.

The broiler chicken production system taught by the research program personnel spurred positive changes in the Ramos family’s situation. She and her children sell 300 broiler chickens monthly in Chiquimula. The family’s yearly income has increased from $350 to $2900 with this new business. All of the family’s meat needs are met by the production as well.

As instructed by the Benson Institute, the Ramos family takes special care to guard against bacterial contamination in the meat and vaccinates every broiler to avoid disease. The use of cost-effective feed is of concern as well. The family either buys commercial feed or mixes home-grown grain with soy to create a nutritious food for the broilers.

The family begins their day at three o’clock each morning when they slaughter, scald, pluck, and clean the broilers. They use precise techniques to ensure a high-quality product. By seven o’clock the meat is ready for market. Doña Prudencia’s oldest children then go to work in the fields while the younger children attend school. She rides to Chiquimula, where she rents a market stall to sell her fresh meat.

Like the Ramos family, numerous others in Pinalito are involved in a broiler cooperative organized by the Benson Institute and the USAC students. Often Doña Prudencia sells her neighbors’ chickens in the open-air markets in Chiquimula and buys day-old chicks for them at the supplier in town. Together, the village cooperative sells 1600 broilers per month.

Doña Prudencia’s family has also adopted the more efficient farming techniques taught by Benson Institute personnel. Boris, Doña Prudencia’s son, has generated a threefold increase in corn yields as well as a fourfold increase in bean production. The family now produces vegetables and fruit as well, which add essential nutrients to the family’s diet.

Doña Prudencia attributes her achievements to hard work, the assistance of her children and neighbors, the Benson Institute production techniques, and the help of the USAC students. The Ramos family exemplifies how families who participated in the self-sufficiency program between 1990 and 1995 continue to reap its benefits.