Editor’s Note: From January 3rd to 17th, 2023, the Friends of ATC hosted the Sustainable Agriculture and Environment in Nicaragua course with the University of Maryland. Students wrote about their experiences through blog posts and essays. Over the coming weeks we’ll share a selection of these posts. You can also find publications on the course website terpsnica.org. If you’re interested in joining us in Nicaragua for an experience like this, visit our delegations page.
Managua – A group of ten students and two faculty members from the University of Maryland met with the Marlen Sanchez, Director of the Latin American Institute of Agroecology (IALA Ixim Ulew), and Erika Takeo, Coordinator of the Friends of ATC in a conference room at the Francisco Morazán School in Managua.
Sanchez spoke about climate change and its impact on Nicaragua. There have been more droughts, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes damaging Nicaragua making it 1 of the 10 countries of the world most affected by climate change. Many countries try to mitigate the consequences but do not attack the base of the problem. Other countries need to recognize developing countries like Nicaragua, not only for how they are affected, but also for what they have to offer.
Nicaragua has built a food sovereignty model, currently producing 90% of the food for the whole country, with 42% of the population living in rural areas. This model has reduced food insecurity and poverty, and builds resilience against climate change.
The United States has severely limited international aid to the Nicaraguan government and opposes all loans of assistance for development projects. The US government has an oversized influence on international lending agencies, and it has imposed sanctions to prevent Nicaragua from receiving loans or development aid. In addition, the US blocks sales of goods like sugar and gold to the US, and specifically sanctions all economic activity with many Nicaraguan businesses.
This is because Nicaragua is still marked by its past even though all they want is “la paz” (peace) said Sanchez. The people of Nicaragua support their anti-imperialist leader Augusto Cesar Sandino, who fought against the US Marines until they eventually withdrew from Nicaragua in 1933. The US negotiated the installation of the dictator Anastasio Somoza Garcia, and he assassinated Sandino after meeting with him to discuss the terms of the new government. The Somoza family was finally overthrown by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) during the Nicaragua revolution in 1979.
In 1975, the Association de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC) was created subversively to connect rural families and workers. Its focus was on the need to make people conscious of why they should know their rights and care about the land. The plan of the ATC was to reform Nicaragua and take land from oligarchs to redistribute to the people so more farmers were able to have land. They wanted to work towards food sovereignty and to have more programs to improve living conditions.
After the Sandinista victory in 1979, labor unions including the ATC were legalized, and were able to influence policies of the new government. For the first time, the revolution transferred influence and property to the peasant farmers and workers and not just from one set of oligarchs to another.
Food sovereignty is the concept of producing food independently of foreign imports. It is especially important that Nicaragua produces its own food using its own inputs, because food and fertilizer were embargoed and used as a weapon in the early part of the revolution. The suffering of people because of the embargo and US-backed contra war eventually led the Nicaraguan people to vote for a new government comprised of members of established oligarchical families, but advised and financially backed by the US government. From 1990 to 2006, three different neoliberal governments privatized government-controlled entities and cut social services.
The ATC promoted food sovereignty and farm workers having ownership of their own land. This was especially crucial after the neoliberal period where there was no longer money in the national bank to support farmers due to the war that the neoliberal model imposed against public banks. A lot of small farmers ended up losing their land over a period of over a decade of taking land and giving it back to big land owners. The World Bank also financed property sweeps that would cause rural families to fight amongst themselves for their family’s land. There was increased conflict over land where farmers crops did not have a price leading to bargaining. The economy was in shambles, and they are still trying to rebuild it.
Once the Sandinistas again returned to office in 2007, loan programs for small farmers were established and the government and ATC assisted farmers in developing their own land once again. The country now produces 90% of its own foods, and the ATC has been training farm workers in using bio-fertilizers and organic methods to control pests. These methods decrease the need for imported goods to produce food, but also protect the health of farm workers and consumers, and protect the environment. The methods the ATC teach help improve the quality of the land, improve the soils, so the land is more productive and more resistant to climate change. As more land holds more carbon in the soils and foliage, it also decreases carbon in the environment.