Golden seeds for my comunity. Native corn.

For decades corn has been the essential food item to every one’s life in Guatemala. There is a wide range of native varieties of corn in the region, with very good output and of high quality. They are resilient to plagues and diseases, as each of them has been adapting to its territory and climate.

In the department of Quiche, there is a humble village. Where its inhabitants work on the production of basic grains for consumption.

One day, they told Daniel: “Why do you plant corn, if it is not profitable? With all the work it takes! Instead, you should negotiate and purchase corn, it would be more profitable!” Daniel answered: “It may well be that you do not see it as profitable but it is a healthy product, for my family’s consumption which has been grown for many years. The harvests stay of the same quality, this way we manage to sustain ourselves.” It is not only my case, but also that of all the people living in this village. We store our corn, and it lasts much longer than the transgenic ones.

Did you know that big companies do not want us to keep sowing our native seeds but are pushing us to opt for genetically modified seeds instead? While those are more expensive, and would make us increasingly dependent on technologies.

But we shall not allow them to do whatever they want with our seeds. This is where we live and so here we decide. And we are not going to stop sowing our seeds. Because they are good, qualitative and preferred on the market.

I am happy with my native seeds, and I invite you not to let yourselves be fooled. Let’s take good care of what belongs to us, through community seed banks.

Because we are made from corn !