Looking Back: Peanut Processing with CTI Grinders in Guyana

Thirty years ago, CTI was started by a group of missionaries, research engineers, and General Mills food scientists. Throughout our history, our goal has remained the same: to alleviate hunger and poverty in the developing world by designing and distributing simple, life-changing food and water technologies. 

As we look back over the years, we're reminded of how simple technology, creative solutions, and passionate volunteers can make a difference around the world.

History
In 2002, USAID awarded a grant to the Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) project in Guyana. The goal of the project was to increase peanut production and increase income at the village level in Region 9 - 26,000 sq. miles known as the Rupununi. Peanut CRSP was immensely successful - by its third year of operation, peanut production in the Rupununi more than tripled. However, the increase in peanut production resulted in a "peanut market crash" and local Amerindian farmers were drowning in unsold peanuts. 

Impact
To address the peanut surplus, a Guyanese NGO and the Guyana Ministry of Education (MOE) implemented a school snack program in seven villages across the Rupununi in 2005. In each village, Amerindian women organized themselves and initiated processing activities in groups called "cottage industries." 

The cottage industries purchase raw materials (peanuts, cassava and fruit) from local farmers and use CTI Omega VI grinders to make peanut butter. They serve peanut butter/cassava bread sandwiches with a fruit drink to an average of 1,400 nursery and primary school students every day. The women in the cottage industries are paid for their work by the MOE. 

By using local products to create snacks consumed in local schools, this innovative project created a sustainable program that improved the lives of 200 farmers who now have better markets, created jobs for 50 women employed in the cottage industries, and improved the nutrition and learning capacity of 1,400 schoolchildren.

Recent Developments
In January 2010, the Guyana MOE signed an agreement with the Society for Sustainable Operational Strategies (SSOS) to expand the snack program to a total of 33 villages in the Rupununi, increasing the number of nursery and primary school students to 3,000. By December 2010, the program was active in 41 villages, surpassing its goal.

On January 6, 2011, the MOE and SSOS signed a new agreement to expand and consolidate this program to 47 villages with a target of 3,500 students.

CTI volunteers Hank Garwick and Dave Elton recently attended the annual Georgia Peanut Tour and during their visit, they interviewed Robert Kemerait - a University of Georgia professor involved with Peanut CRSP - about the school snack program.

Kemerait reported that the snack project has been "unbelievably successful. The children love the cassava bread sandwiches with peanut butter [and] the famers are getting a better value." 

"[The Omega VI grinder] has allowed the women to be employed, it has given them the opportunity - for most of them to have the first opportunity - in their lives to earn money and to have some income to put towards their family's needs," Kemerait added. 

This project, like all our projects, couldn't have been successful without CTI supporters and volunteers. Here's to another 30 years of success stories like this one.

The story behind the photograph

"The picture of the man and the boy on the beach was taken in Mumbai. The high rises in the background are in the wealthy section of Mumbai.

I wasn't sure if the man was begging or greeting us he was almost too weak to raise his arm. There were no women in the immediate area so I don't know what the story is about the boy. There were other people on the beach looking for things that might have washed on to shore.I gave him a little money because he looked like he could use it and because I took his picture. He was friendly in a sad way." - Steve Laible, CTI Volunteer 

Don't forget that Dr. Shiv and Gale Murty have issued a challenge grant for CTI's project to address Severe Acute Malnutrition in India. Total donations before December 31, 2010 up to $5,000 will be matched 100% by Shiv and Gale. Shiv, a project lead and long time volunteer with CTI, is a graduate of the India Institute of Technology - Bombay (a partner of this project) and a retired food scientist with General Mills.
 

World Food Day 2010 - Combating Severe Acute Malnutrition among Children in India

Saturday, October 16th is World Food Day, and in honor of the occasion, we are reflecting on the 8 million children in India suffering from severe malnutrition--innocents who were born in a country where 47% of children are malnourished.

Children in India don't just suffer from a lack of food, but a lack of a balanced diet including essential vitamins and minerals. In the worst cases, children will succumb to Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)--malnutrition that is so severe, the body begins consuming its own tissues. If untreated, SAM results in death or permanent physical and mental stunting--perpetuating poverty and hunger for generations.

A Revolutionary New Treatment 

Until a few years ago, SAM was treated--rather unsuccessfully--by hospitalization or dry food therapy, and only 25-40% of children survived. Miraculously, there has been a recent revolution in the treatment of SAM with the development of vitamin fortified, energy-dense food formulations-Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs). RUTFs rapidly put weight on malnourished children and are typically comprised of a mixture of ground peanuts, powdered milk, sugar, vegetable oil, and vitamins and minerals. With an 85% patient recovery rate, RUTF treatment is simply the cheapest and most effective treatment in existence.

Now is the Time to Act

CTI engineers, nutritionists, and food scientists have developed an RUTF formulation composed of peanuts and other ingredients that can be found in India. With your support, CTI will establish pilot facilities in India to produce RUTF with local ingredients and local workers. The product will be distributed through the Sion Hospital Group in Mumbai for formal clinical trials under the direction of recognized pediatricians. Once operational, the process will be scaled-out and the RUTF will be offered to thousands of severely malnourished children in India.

Help us Save Lives

We can't continue this project without your help. Dr. Shiv and Gale Murty have issued a challenge grant for this project. Total donations before December 31, 2010 up to $5,000 will be matched 100% by Shiv and Gale. Shiv, a project lead and long time volunteer with CTI, is a graduate of the India Institute of Technology - Bombay (a partner of this project) and a retired food scientist with General Mills.

Rebuilding Lives in Haiti

When the devastating earthquake hit Haiti in January, Madame Aliette Belizaire was among the millions whose lives were changed forever. In the aftermath of this horrific disaster, Madame Belizaire discovered that her daughter had been killed in the quake and her that husband was missing, leaving her with two grandchildren and eight remaining children of her own to look after. As days passed and the crisis continued, Madame Belizaire and her family made the heart-wrenching decision to leave Port-Au-Prince.

After traveling to the southwest city of Jeremie, Madame Belizaire and her family were provided a small home by the Haitian Health Foundation, where they began rebuilding their lives, growing corn and other crops to support their family. In May, Compatible Technology International (CTI) sent a food grinder to the Belizaire family. Within days of receiving this simple device, the whole family was processing crops into enough food to eat as well as to sell in the local market. The family began using the grinder to make Akasan, a corn-based porridge meal, and peanut butter, which is important for relieving malnourishment in the children of the area who have kwashiorkor - a severe protein deficiency. The family will use the grinder to feed themselves and to prepare peanut butter which they will continue to sell at the market. All of the children will be able to attend school with the money generated from these sales.

Although it's been seven months since the earthquake hit Port-Au-Prince, the extreme poverty that dictates the lives of 80% of the country continues, and the truth is, without addressing Haiti's chronic hunger and malnutrition, Haitians will continue to be vulnerable to the next earthquake, flood, or famine.

CTI is partnering with organizations in Haiti to identify communities and families that can use simple, post harvest technologies to produce more nutritious food and generate incomes. CTI needs help from supporters like you who are willing to step in when relief falls short. Donate now to contribute to CTI's efforts toward sustainable development in Haiti and around the world.