b'CARDAMOM IS KNOWN AS THE QUEEN OF SPICES, and it comes with a price tag to match the nicknameits the worlds third-most-expensive spice, after saffron and vanilla. But while companies, traders and intermediaries extract profit from cardamom, producersstruggle to get by. Heifer Guatemala and Alta Verapaz cardamom farmers are working to change those dynamics through the Green Business Belt Program. Ultimately, the goal is to close the living income gap for 108,650 farmers, women and entrepreneurs through full participation in the supply chain while emphasizing environmentally friendly practices. BOTTOMAbout two-thirds of all cardamom The highest quality greenexported comes from the cloud forests and cardamomtropical jungles of Guatemala, primarily in the grows under the forest canopy indepartment of Alta Verapaz, which has the the mountainslowest development indicators in the country. and hills of AltaNearly 85% of Guatemalas cardamom comes Verapaz. Picking the spice is laborfrom about 350,000 farmers using less than 10 intensive andacres of land each. On those small swaths of time sensitive. Once the pods areland, the majority of farmers are Qeqchi, an harvested thereIndigenous Maya group that ranks among the is no time to lose,Heifer International supports the Municipal and farmers mustpoorest populations in Guatemala. Greenhouse of Chisec, which is working to immediately sellFor families dependent on cardamompreserve and protect native plant species as well their crops or rushas cardamom and various other spices. Plant to cardamomincome, that path from the fields to consumersspecialists and technicians at the nursery train drying facilities. is a circuitous one. According to Green Businesslocal producers to restore forest ecosystems while earning an income from commodity crops.Ultimately, the goal is to close the living income gap for 108,650 farmers, women and entrepreneurs through full participation in the MEXICO BELIZE supply chain while emphasizing environmentally friendly practices. DepartmentBelt Program Manager Gerson Coy, there areYet, in an industry worth billions, the average of Alta Verapaz as many as eight links in the supply chain fromincome for a cardamom farmer in Alta Verapaz producer to consumer, and farmers receiveis only $1,800 a year. Through its research, Heifer GUATEMALA the lowest profit margins by far because ofGuatemala estimates that farmers need to earn HONDURAS the excess of intermediaries. Globally, driedaround $4,680 annually to maintain a living cardamom sells for about $7 per pound. Byincome, or the amount of money each person the time the commodity reaches U.S. stores,in a household needs to live a dignified life with EL SALVADOR it sells for at least three times that in wholeaccess to nutritious food, clean water, shelter, pod form after drying and classification.health care, education and other essentials.12| SUMMER 2021 HEIFER.ORG |13'