Working With Rabbit Producers in Guatemala

This post was written by F2F Volunteer Robert Spencer from the field in Guatemala.

I have volunteered internationally since 2006,
worked in Haiti, El Salvador, Myanmar, and now Guatemala.  April 26, 2015 began my first visit to this
beautiful country work with advancing quality of meat rabbit production to
improve nutrition in Guatemala.  Partners
of the Americas (a USAID program generously funded by the American people) was
my sponsor, and Institution of Nutrition for Central America and Panama (INCAP)
and Seeds for the Future (SftF) were my gracious in-country hosts. It appears
the staff of INCAP and Seeds for the Future have done an outstanding job of
educating and motivating participating farmers to do the best possible with
available resources, while tracking qualitative data that is already providing
impressive reporting. 

I flew into Guatemala City on Sunday, had an introductory
meeting with INCAP the next day, and then was whisked off to Chocola’ to work
with farmers for five days of and my primary reason for being here and a little
bit of fun and food.  Chocola’ is about
three hours northwest of Guatemala City, a relaxing rural area that faces many
economic challenges including limited revenue generating opportunities for
women and their families. 

During the time spent in Chocola’ and surrounding
areas I was part of 7 workshops, 3 meetings, 3 interactive sessions, and 17 local
farm tours. The objective of this assignment is to strengthen the capacities of
technical field staff and participating families in the SAN project, by
addressing practical strategies for production, and consumption of rabbit
meat.  At the same time participants
received education on nutritional and culinary aspects of rabbit meat.  The majority of farms were observed to be
conducting quality meat rabbit production; the more novice producers had
varying degrees of opportunity for improvement. Based upon verbal interaction
the benefit for those who have been raising rabbits for more than six months
was great satisfaction and increased nutrition.  

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