case studies undp: alimentos nutri-naturales (ansa), guatemala

7/27/2019 Case studies UNDP: ALIMENTOS NUTRI-NATURALES (ANSA), Guatemala

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

Guatemala

ALIMENTOSNUTRI-NATURALES

Empowered live

Resilient nation



UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners – vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ

to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to ‘The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years

the Equator Prize’, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiative’s searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe

Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,

Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu

DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la Pa

Brandon Payne, Mariajosé Satizábal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude Alimentos Nutri-Naturales, and in particular the guidance and inputs o Gla

Rodriguez, as well as Ramón Zetina o the Rainorest Alliance, and Erika Vohman o The Equilibrium Fund. All photo credits courtesy

Ramón Zetina (Rainorest Alliance) and Whitney Wilding (UNDP Equator Initiative). Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikiped

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Alimentos Nutri-Naturales, Guatemala. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New York,

http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdf


http://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858





PROJECT SUMMARYAlimentos Nutri-Naturales Sociedad Anónima (ANSA) is

a group o independent businesses, entirely owned and

operated by women, which harvest, process, and sell the

abundant and rarely utilized Maya nut (Brosimum alicastrum).

The nut was once a staple ood or the ancient Mayans but

is threatened with extinction due to the spread o logging

and conversion o land to agriculture. In the buer zone o

the Maya Biosphere Reserve, this initiative has employed

community members to process these locally-available

nuts to eed their amilies and generate income.

The group has also developed a project to combat

malnutrition and dependence on imported oodstus by

marketing Maya nut-based school lunches in local districts.

By empowering local women throughout the region with

the opportunities associated with the Maya nut business,

the initiative is improving amily nutrition, health, and

income.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2006

FOUNDED: 2005

LOCATION: Petén Department

BENEFICIARIES: 85 families

BIODIVERSITY: Maya nut trees (Brosimum alicastrum)

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 6

Biodiversity Impacts 7

Socioeconomic Impacts 7

Policy Impacts 8

Sustainability 9

Replication 9

Partners 9

ALIMENTOS NUTRI-NATURALESGuatemala



4

Alimentos Nutri-Naturales Sociedad Anónima (ANSA) is aommunity-based women’s initiative that addresses issues o ood

ecurity and conservation in the Petén region o Guatemala. ANSA

was ounded in 2005 when a small group o women rom the village

Ixlú were trained in the potential uses o the Maya nut, a orest

roduct once eaten by their ancient Mayan ancestors but long-since

orgotten. The women began collecting and processing the nuts or

heir own consumption and to sell locally. This activity eventually

volved into a business which incorporated more women into the

arvesting and production processes. In 2008 and 2009, ANSA

xpanded its production, increased domestic sales, and began

o export its products to larger markets, thus entering a period o

ramatic growth.

Maya nut harvesting

Maya nut is the seed o Brosimum alicastrum, a large rainorest

ree which was once abundant throughout Central America but is

ow highly threatened (and in certain regions extinct) due in large

measure to the elling o trees or rewood and land conversion or

gricultural use, primarily corn arms. Further, the species displays

eproductive irregularities, such as recalcitrant seeds and age-

elated hermaphroditism, which contribute to its vulnerability. When

ealthy, however, Brosimum alicastrum produces what are locally

nown as ‘Maya nuts’. The nuts are bright green, roughly the size o

macadamia nuts, and can be harvested on the ground in a way that

does not damage the soil, orests, water, or animals. Collectortrained to only collect one third o what is produced, leaving

third or natural reorestation and one third or animal consump

Maya nuts are much higher in vitamins, minerals, and protein

traditionally cultivated crops o the region. They are remarkably

in ber, calcium, potassium, olate, iron, zinc, protein and vita

A and B. Another comparative advantage is that the nuts are h

versatile and can be used resh and boiled or dried and roaste

a wide variety o sweet and savory dishes. Fresh nuts can be

to make tamales, tortillas, pies, croquettes, burgers, stir ry, m

potato salad, soup, sauces and dumplings. When dried and roa

Maya nuts taste like chocolate or coee and can be used to m

cake, cookies, cereal, hot and cold drinks, pancakes, pudding,other dishes. The nutritional, health and ood security implicat

or local communities are sel-evident.

Harvest sites and land tenure securitization

The orests where the women o Alimentos Nutri-Natu

Sociedad Anónima collect Maya nuts are under the managem

and authority o the National Council o Protected Areas (CON

the governing body o the Maya Biosphere Reserve and all ore

lands in Guatemala. The orests have been steadily degraded

deorested, and now support little wildlie and contain low le

o plant diversity. One o the primary reasons the remaining o

Background and Context

“Become empowered in the use of the Maya nut for the nutrition of people, for forest restoratio

and for the reforestation of this species. Protect the Maya nut tree for your benefit and for futur

generations.”

Ramón Zetina, Rainforest Alliance



55

ave not been elled and converted to pasture land is because local

attle ranchers recognize the importance o Maya nut seeds and

eaves in sustaining cattle during the dry season when pastures dry

p.

he eight harvest sites used by ANSA collectors are unctionally

egraded patches o orest located in the buer zone o the reserve.

hese buer zones are communal lands which are deeded to

ndividuals or one hundred year intervals. To gain collection rightsn the buer zone, ANSA had to develop a Maya Nut Management

lan, which outlined the number seeds participating women would

ommercialize each year. Projections were established based on

normed projections o how much seed could be harvested without

amaging natural regeneration o the trees or adversely aecting

wildlie populations. The management plan was then submitted to,

nd subsequently approved by, the National Council o Protected

Areas.

A women-led initiative for sustainable livelihoods

he catalyst or the project was the issue o ood insecurity, and

he health challenges this continued to pose or rural Guatemalan

ommunities and amilies. Architects o the initiative understood

hat any lasting solution to the ood security challenge needed to

be locally driven. The Maya nut oers nutritional benets, is ou

abundance in the Mayan orest, is easily processed, does not req

any specialized technology, and can be used to make a wide va

o dishes and products. It also has roots in Mayan culture, givi

resonance with the local population.

ANSA aims to mobilize rural women to protect local orests,

watersheds, and wildlie, and to promote the Maya Nut a

alternative ood source, thus combating ood insecurity, malnutr

and poverty. The larger vision o the company is to become

remain a leader in the development and production o Maya

based ood products or the benet o the local population, pla

a special emphasis on children’s health. The vision has not chan

since the company was ounded; rather, it has been strengthe

through training initiatives and through the establishment

network o women collectors which ensures that they always enough raw materials to meet the needs o their amilies and o

community.

Women harvesters are expected to rst and oremost meet the

security needs o their amilies. Beyond this, harvest surpluse

sold to ANSA. During the harvest season, 85 amilies earn an inc

by collecting nuts rom the orest and selling them to the associa

There are also ten women who work in a four production acility,

women working in teams o two on the ollowing tasks: nut was

and drying, toasting, grinding, packaging, and administra

The small company is governed a General Assembly which di

company policy. Overall operations are managed by a CEO,

serves as the president and legal representative o the companyan accountant who is in charge o keeping nancial records o

company and perorming secretarial duties. A number o part

also provide value-added support to the association, inclu

notably Rainorest Alliance who provide technical assistance

sourcing Maya nut products to local, national and internat

markets. To eectively manage growth and ensure the reinvest

o revenues into community services and inrastructure, the com

created a social arm, Asociación de Mujeres para el desarroll

Ixlú, Flores Petén (ADEMIX), which now serves as a vehicle or

development.



6

Key Activities and Innovations

Alimentos Nutri-Naturales Sociedad Anónima’s primary activity is

he purchase o raw Maya nuts rom rural women collectors, which

hey then process, package, and sell in the orm o four, coee

ubstitute, and baked products. The women running ANSA are also

ctively engaged in awareness-raising campaigns and trainings

o improve local knowledge and understanding o the nutritional

benets o the Maya nut. At trainings and workshops, the issues o

orest conservation, reorestation and public health receive greatest

mphasis. Local women are also instructed on dierent ways in

which Maya nut can be incorporated into their diets and those o

heir children. Awareness campaigns are targeted to the poorest

ommunities in the region, particularly rural arm amilies. The

arget population includes all inhabitants o Petén, Izabal, and AltaVerapaz, the areas where Maya nut is abundant, where harvesting is

viable livelihood option, and where training will have the greatest

kelihood o producing new collectors.

he association reports yearly growth and progress in training, Maya

ut harvesting, and four production. In the case o the latter, four

production has increased rom 4,500 pounds in the rst year o

operation to 30,000 pounds in recent years. The company reports

hat more than 3,000 rural amilies have received training in Maya

ut harvesting and processing.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests”

One o the most pioneering activities o the company has been

he ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests’ program, launched in 2008

n partnership with the Maya Nut Institute, BanRural, Rainorest

Alliance, the Ministry o Education, and the Ministry o Agriculture.

he program works through the Government o Guatemala to

provide Maya-nut based lunches and snacks at schools across

he country. Due to its aordability and popularity, a oundation

as subsequently been ormed to manage ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy

orests’. It is now an independent organization, managed by a local

board o directors and sta and is another step toward nancial and

ood independence or the Guatemalan people. As a result o

program, the Guatemalan Ministry o the Environment na

the planting o 250,000 new Maya Nut seedlings in the reg

These seedlings will one day provide over 3 million pounds o

per year or these communities, representing a long-term solu

to problems o malnutrition and ood insecurity in the regio

addition to the environmental services they provide (protectio

soils and watersheds, biodiversity, and mitigation o climate cha

The company is noteworthy or oering a solution to the mo

problems o ood security, malnutrition and poverty by reintrodu

a traditional practice and crop. The initiative came toge

organically, through grassroots action, with rural women wotogether to nd a viable alternative or eeding their children

improving their livelihoods. Maya nut harvesting requires

technology transer, and is based on local knowledge and a M

cultural tradition. The initiative represents a leading examp

an endogenously evolved solution to a local problem and

demonstrated impressive results in reducing rates o malnutri

inant mortality and maternal mortality in the communities o

region. Knowledge transer has also taken place woman-to-wo

through direct, ace-to-ace dialogue. The initiative then u

stands out as an example o emale leadership and empowerm

as well as a unctional testament to the transormative pow

peer-to-peer learning.

“Nature can live without man, but man cou

never survive without nature.”

Ramón Zetina, Rainforest Alliance



7

Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTSANSA has successully introduced an incentive structure or the local

population to protect their orests. By demonstrating the economic

value – as well as the health and nutrition benets – o the Maya

nut, ANSA has been able to instill a orest conservation ethic that

s unctionally linked to a traditional practice and resource. Local

people are now exerting less pressure on surrounding orests,

hoosing the sustainable and low-impact practice o Maya nut

ollection over unsustainable non-timber orest product collection

nd hunting wildlie. The reorestation o this multi-purpose tree has

lso been credited with greater resilience to natural disasters.

As a result o the ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests’ program, Guatemalan

hildren are learning to appreciate the nutritional and environmental

value o the Maya Nut, a message that they are taking back home

o their parents, who have become more interested in reoresting

with Maya Nut than they had been previously. With its multiple

environmental benets, the Maya nut tree is ideal or reorestation.

As the largest tree in the orest, reaching up to 45 meters (130 eet),

he species is an important source o ood or wildlie, provides

habitat or local biodiversity, and contributes to watershed and soil

protection as well as carbon sequestration.

ince the project began, approximately 35,000 Brosimum alicastrum

rees have been planted over 32 acres o land in the Departmento Petén in order to strengthen the orests, degraded lands, and

watersheds on which at least thirty rural communities depend.

Additionally, the dissemination o inormation on the Maya nut’s

ocial, environmental, and economic benets has resulted in

greements to protect the tree in all the orest concessions in the

Multiple Use Zone o the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

To date, no ormal biodiversity monitoring and evaluation has been

put in place by the initiative. However, evidence o the abundance

o Brosimum alicastrum within the Multiple Use Zone o the

Maya Biosphere Reserve has been documented in the integrated

management plans. Local people and collectors have also provtestimonials as to vast improvements in human health and incre

in animal populations in the orests. ANSA hopes to benet r

quantitative assessment by a multidisciplinary team in the utu

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

In terms o poverty reduction, the Maya nut oers rural am

an opportunity to gain extra money in order to meet dom

needs and also adds nutrition to the local diet, thereby helpin

improve overall ood security. O those who have been train

the collection o the nut, most are rural women who live on less

two dollars a day. Families who collect the Maya nut can earn u

200 quetzals (or USD 50) per day in the high season. There are



harvesting seasons per year, rom March to May and rom September

o November. In addition, 85 temporary and 10 permanent jobs

have been created at the actory. ANSA also directly supports local

communities by donating a portion o the four produced to schools

and storing dried seeds and four in case o ood shortages. Maya

nut can be stored or up to ve years, making it an excellent ood or

egions prone to requent drought and ood insecurity.

The ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests’ program provides over 8,000children rom 45 rural schools with Maya Nut-based school

unches. As a result o this program, the Guatemalan Ministry o

he Environment nanced the planting o 800,000 new Maya Nut

eedlings in the region. Since one Maya nut tree can produce up to

400 pounds o ood per year, these seedlings will one day provide

over three hundred million pounds o ood per year or local

communities. This campaign presents a long term solution to the

problems o malnutrition and ood insecurity in the region. Maya

nut leaves are also used as odder or cows and goats, providing yet

another benet or rural amilies. Due to the multiple uses o the

ree, armers and ranchers are increasingly interested in arming the

nut, the ormer or their own nutrition and the latter or odder in

imes o crisis.

Women are the primary beneciaries o ANSA programs. Experi

has shown that improving socio-economic conditions or wo

results in improved conditions or the entire amily. The women

participate in ANSA activities now eel empowered, have gain

degree o nancial independence, and are learning organizat

and business skills. Participating women also take pride in

act that they are an active part o an economically bene

and environmentally riendly activity that is based on tradit

knowledge and ancient culture.

POLICY IMPACTS

While the company’s primary political infuence has been at

local level, ANSA’s promotion o the Maya nut has resulted in gre

appreciation and awareness o its benets at multiple scales. Pri

among those who now have an interest in the species is the Nat

Council o Protected Areas who have committed to protecting

its social economic and environmental benets. While no region

national laws have been created as a direct result o the organiza

the ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests’ program is oered nation-w

The message that ANSA hopes to convey is that developing

multi-purpose plant can help to combat child malnutritionhunger o the poor, ood insecurity, and climate change.

8



9

Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITYhe key component that makes this project sustainable is, above all,

nancial support. The act that government institutions encourage

he purchase o the product or schools, hospitals, and military

arracks has made it possible to expand the demand or this

roduct. Local sales and certain international companies who buy

he product have also been critical.

n order to achieve sustainable growth, a strategic plan was recently

eveloped which integrates the results o an analysis o the

ompany’s current situation and the goals o the members or the

ext three years. This plan aims to strengthen ANSA as a company,o improve its organizational, accounting, and production systems,

nd to increase sales through marketing networks on local, national,

nd international scales. ANSA has also established a business plan

ased on a market analysis and an analysis o the company’s nancial

ndicators. The environmental sustainability o the project has had a

ositive impact on product sales.

REPLICATION

n the Department o Petén, the program has reached over 300

illages in Alta Verapaz, (a neighboring department) as well as

illages on the southern coast o Guatemala, several communities in

zabal (Eastern Guatemala), and San Jose Socotz (Belize). ANSA hasrovided Maya nut training to roughly 30,000 amilies across all the

orementioned regions.

o raise awareness about the project model and the benets o Maya

ut cultivation and harvesting, ANSA has employed radio, television,

ewspapers. On-site trainings are also oered in economically

marginalized communities and those suering most acutely rom

ood insecurity. At these trainings, ANSA sta oer Maya nut-based

ood products to participating communities to demonstrate the

multiple uses o the resource.

PARTNERS The central partners to the initiative are the Maya Nut Inst

Rainorest Alliance, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia, Minis

de la Economia, INTECAP, AGEXPORT, and INAB-National Guatem

Forestry Institute.



Equator Initiative

Environment and Energy GroupUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Tel: +1 646 781-4023

www.equatorinitiative.org

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating or change

onnecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

©2012 by Equator Initiative

All rights reserved

FURTHER REFERENCE

Maya Nut Institute website mayanutinstitute.org/

Alimentos Nutri-Naturales Photo Story (Vimeo) vimeo.com/24282685

Click the thumbnails below to read more case studies like this:

http://mayanutinstitute.org/

http://vimeo.com/24282685

http://vimeo.com/24282685

http://mayanutinstitute.org/

http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348151517.pdf



case studies undp: alimentos nutri-naturales (ansa), guatemala

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