Madre Tierra

In Mexico, 76% of farms generate only 16% of total agricultural income. Farmers often lack long-term planning and sell their produce to middlemen, resulting in unstable income.

Additionally, 50% of farmers cultivate less than two hectares of land and face unique challenges in growing and selling their crops. These challenges include a lack of technical knowledge, low productivity and quality, limited market access, and unsustainable farming practices. As a result, small farms are 30% less productive than larger farms, use 25% more water and chemicals — leading to poor soil management — and have low resilience to the impacts of climate change.

In 2019, a coalition of partners, including Danone Ecosystem, TechnoServe, Danone Cycles & Procurement, Grupo Altex, Fundación Walmart, Nuup, and the German development agency GIZ, launched the Madre Tierra project to empower Mexican smallholder strawberry farmers. The project aims to support 150 farmers and benefit more than 700 families in the community by addressing challenges related to market access, technical knowledge, productivity, and sustainability.

The project is built on three pillars:

• Social:
  • Training farm technicians and creating a network of smallholder farmers with cooperative values.Providing comprehensive support to farmers, including technical assistance and access to credit to improve their practices and secure a stable income.
• Economic:
  • Increase the quality and yield of strawberry production, expanding marketing channels that value sustainable strawberry production in inclusive and stable supply chains.
  • Providing farmers with access to essential funding for equipment and operational costs, ensuring significant investments to boost productivity and profitability.
• Environmental:
  • Implementing regenerative agriculture practices to reduce water consumption and improve farm sustainability.
  • Assessing all participating farms on biodiversity preservation and promoting best practices in soil and water management.

Through these pillars, the Madre Tierra project fosters sustainable businesses, supports rural development, and improves the quality of life for small producers, while securing strawberry procurement in the region.