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Deep in the heart of the Lempira district of Honduras is Gracias, meaning, “thanks”. Lempira gets its name from an Indian leader who was lured from his mountain-top fortress under a flag of truce, then ambushed and treacherously killed by Alonso de Caceres and his men in 1538.

Dominated by the country’s highest peaks – Celaque, Puca and Opulaca – the region is predominantly rural.

Constantino Martinez is a maize farmer here. He works in a community shop set up by CAFOD partner COMAL to link local producers and consumers. Farmers like Constantino have been finding it hard to compete with heavily subsidised US imports. It seems like a modern-day ambush of a different kind is taking place.

In a country where 70 per cent of communities rely on maize and beans to survive, finding ways of ensuring local produce is bought locally can have a big impact.

Today there’s a harvest celebration and thanksgiving festival in traditional Maya Lenca style organised by CAFOD partner COMAL (the Network of Alternative Community Trading). Traditional music and dancing and a row of tables with food made of maize – there’s corn soup called “riguas”, a type of maize bread cooked in a banana leaf called “tamalitos”, corn on the cob and boiled maize and chicken with rice wrapped in maize leaves known as “montucas”.

This sort of event attracts a big crowd and is also great for promoting locally grown produce. The priest conducting the ceremony in the grounds of the local Catholic Church thanks both God and Mother Earth for the harvest and warns of the dangers of genetically modified imports.

Posted by AngelaP